In a shocking turn of events, Facebook has banned a group of academic researchers who have been investigating spread of misinformation and ad transparency on the platform.

The researchers were part of a project, called NYU Ad Observatory, aimed at exploring the origins and spread of political ads on Facebook.

Their methodology included creating a browser plugin called Ad Observer, which collects automatically data  regarding the political ads users are receiving and the reason behind their specific targeting. The plugin does not collect any personal data nor registers the ID of the users.

The results shown through studies of Ad Observer’s collected data were then shared with academics and journalists, who were using them to reveal problems with Facebook’s targeted political ads.

Researcher Laura Edelson, a member of the group, said in a statement that "Facebook is silencing us because our work often calls attention to problems on its platform."

This evening, Facebook suspended my Facebook account and the accounts of several people associated with Cybersecurity for Democracy, our team at NYU. This has the effect of cutting off our access to Facebook's Ad Library data, as well as Crowdtangle. 1/4

— Laura Edelson (@LauraEdelson2) August 4, 2021

Facebook closed down the researchers’ accounts under the pretext of the plugin unlawfully collecting user data, despite the fact that Ad Observer clearly obtains the users' consent in order to be installed on their browser.

In response, Edelson stated that “Facebook is using user privacy, a core belief that we have always put first in our work, as a pretext for doing this. If this episode demonstrates anything it is that Facebook should not have veto power over who is allowed to study them."