Researchers studying Facebook misinformation say they were deplatformed – CNN

New York, NY (CNN)New York University researchers discovered scathing new data on the spread of misinformation on Facebook, despite the site curtailing their research, even going so far as deplatforming them. The study found that from August 2020 to January 2021, misinformation got six times more clicks on Facebook than posts containing factual news. Misinformation also accounted for the vast majority of engagement with far right posts — 68% — compared to 36% of posts coming from the far left. Facebook blocked the researchers’ personal accounts and site access last month. The company said their decision to deplatform the researchers was related to a separate study on political ads that involved using a browser extension that allowed users to anonymously share the ads they saw on Facebook with the researchers.”NYU’s Ad Observatory project studied political ads using unauthorized means to access and collect data from Facebook, in violation of our Terms of Service. We took these actions to stop unauthorized scraping and protect people’s privacy in line with our privacy program under the FTC Order,” Mike Clark, Product Management Director, said in a statement. But Laura Edelson, lead researcher on the project Cybersecurity for Democracy at NYU, said this didn’t…
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