First Amendment advocates urge change in Facebook platform rules

A group of First Amendment advocates has urged Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg to change the social media giant’s platform rules to enable public service journalism and research on its platform. The issue is especially pressing as reporters and researchers investigate Russian interference in the midterm elections through platforms such as Facebook’s. Columbia University’s Knight First Amendment Institute notes that Facebook’s terms of service bar the automated collection of public information, a practice that researchers call “scraping,” and the creation of temporary research accounts. Automated collection allows journalists and researchers to generate statistical insights into patterns and information flows on Facebook’s platform, said Ramya Krishnan, legal fellow at the Knight Institute. Sometimes journalists and researchers have attempted to set up temporary research accounts, using a variety of names and biographical attributes, to enable them to assess how the platform responds to different profiles, she said. But such practices are barred by Facebook’s terms of service, which require that a user “provide accurate information about yourself” and create only one account.