Facebook sparked a fresh controversy after it&nbsp;cut off some academic researchers for "scraping" data from the platform for investigating&nbsp;the misinformation spread through political ads on the social network.

The California tech giant&nbsp;says the New York University researchers violated its terms of service and were involved in unauthorised data collection from its massive network.

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The academics, however, say the company is attempting to exert control on research that paints it in a negative light.

The NYU researchers with the Ad Observatory Project had for several years been looking into Facebook’s Ad Library, where searches can be done on advertisements running across Facebook’s products.

Facebook&nbsp;product management director Mike Clark said the accounts from the project were disabled "to stop unauthorised scraping and protect people's privacy in line with our privacy program."

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The access was used to “uncover systemic flaws in the Facebook Ad Library, to identify misinformation in political ads, including many sowing distrust in our election system, and to study Facebook’s apparent amplification of partisan misinformation,” said Laura Edelson, the lead researcher behind NYU Cybersecurity for Democracy.

The NYU project had been at loggerheads for months with&nbsp;Facebook&nbsp;over the program, which used a browser tool to collect data on ads spreading political hoaxes, violence, and COVID-19 misinformation.

"Research cannot be the justification for compromising people's privacy," Clark said in a blog post, arguing that the researchers were collecting user names, ads, and links to user profiles even for people who did not install the browser tool or consent to the collection.

But the&nbsp;Facebook&nbsp;move prompted an angry response from researchers and free-speech activists who argued the social network is blocking independent access to its internal tools.

"By suspending our accounts,&nbsp;Facebook&nbsp;has tried to shut down all this work.&nbsp;Facebook&nbsp;has also effectively cut off access to more than two dozen other researchers and journalists who get access to&nbsp;Facebook&nbsp;data through our project, including our work measuring vaccine misinformation," Edelson added.

Facebook says it makes information on political ads available through its Ad Library and provides “privacy-protected data sets” to researchers through other means.

The row marked the latest clash for&nbsp;Facebook, which has sought to clamp down on third parties with access to private user data while at the same seeking to enable outside researchers to study its inner workings.&nbsp;

Facebook&nbsp;claims it took the action in compliance with a 2019 settlement with US regulators on user privacy in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal in which data was scraped for political ad targeting.

But critics said&nbsp;Facebook&nbsp;needs more transparency.

"We can't allow&nbsp;Facebook&nbsp;to decide what the public gets to know about&nbsp;Facebook. Independent research that respects user privacy is absolutely crucial right now," said Alex Abdo of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University.

"It's essential to figuring out how disinformation spreads on the platform, how advertisers exploit&nbsp;Facebook's micro-targeting tools, and how&nbsp;Facebook's system of amplification may be pushing us further apart."

Matt Bailey of the writers' free expression group PEN America said the action "is part of a larger pattern of&nbsp;Facebook&nbsp;seeking to undercut or silence anyone analyzing the platforms' practices from the outside.

(With inputs from agencies)

Facebook sparked a fresh controversy after it cut off some academic researchers for "scraping" data from the platform for investigating the misinformation spread through political ads on the social network.

Facebook sparked a fresh controversy after it cut off some academic researchers for "scraping" data from the platform for investigating the misinformation spread through political ads on the social network. The California tech giant says the New York University researchers violated its terms of service and were involved in unauthorised data collection from its massive network. The academics, however, say the company is attempting to exert control on research that paints it in a negative light. The NYU researchers with the Ad Observatory Project had for several years been looking into Facebook’s Ad Library, where searches can be done on advertisements running across Facebook’s products. Facebook product management director Mike Clark said the accounts from the project were disabled "to stop unauthorised scraping and protect people's privacy in line with our privacy program." Also read| 'Next great leap in evolution of internet': Why is Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg betting on metaverse? The access was used to “uncover systemic flaws in the Facebook Ad Library, to identify misinformation in political ads, including many sowing distrust in our election system, and to study Facebook’s apparent amplification of partisan misinformation,” said Laura Edelson, the lead researcher behind NYU Cybersecurity for Democracy. The NYU project had been at loggerheads for months with Facebook over the program, which used a browser tool to collect data on ads spreading political hoaxes, violence, and COVID-19 misinformation. "Research cannot be the justification for compromising people's privacy," Clark said in a blog post, arguing that the researchers were collecting user names, ads, and links to user profiles even for people who did not install the browser tool or consent to the collection. But the Facebook move prompted an angry response from researchers and free-speech activists who argued the social network is blocking independent access to its internal tools. "By suspending our accounts, Facebook has tried to shut down all this work. Facebook has also effectively cut off access to more than two dozen other researchers and journalists who get access to Facebook data through our project, including our work measuring vaccine misinformation," Edelson added. Facebook says it makes information on political ads available through its Ad Library and provides “privacy-protected data sets” to researchers through other means. The row marked the latest clash for Facebook, which has sought to clamp down on third parties with access to private user data while at the same seeking to enable outside researchers to study its inner workings. Facebook claims it took the action in compliance with a 2019 settlement with US regulators on user privacy in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal in which data was scraped for political ad targeting. But critics said Facebook needs more transparency. "We can't allow Facebook to decide what the public gets to know about Facebook. Independent research that respects user privacy is absolutely crucial right now," said Alex Abdo of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University. "It's essential to figuring out how disinformation spreads on the platform, how advertisers exploit Facebook's micro-targeting tools, and how Facebook's system of amplification may be pushing us further apart." Matt Bailey of the writers' free expression group PEN America said the action "is part of a larger pattern of Facebook seeking to undercut or silence anyone analyzing the platforms' practices from the outside. (With inputs from agencies)

Facebook sparks fresh controversy by cutting off research on political ads

Facebook said Wednesday it would tighten its rules for political ad spending ahead of the 2020 US elections, notably by requiring more information about who is paying for campaign messages.

Facebook tightens rules on political ads

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Facebook sparks fresh controversy by cutting off research on political ads

Facebook tightens rules on political ads