New Delhi: A team of researchers at Algorithm Watch said they were forced to abandon their research project monitoring the Instagram algorithm following legal threats from Facebook.
As The Verge reports, the Berlin-based project went public with conflict in a post published this week, citing the NYU Ad Observatory’s recent ban of the platform.
“There are probably more cases of bullying that we are not aware of,” the post read.
“We hope that by coming forward, more organizations will talk about their experiences,” it added.
Launched in March 2020, AlgorithmWatch provides a browser plug-in that allows users to collect data from their Instagram feeds, providing insight into how the platform prioritizes pictures and videos.
The project regularly published findings showing that the algorithm encouraged photos that showed bare skin and that photos showing faces were ranked higher than screenshots of text.
Facebook disputed the methodology but did not take action against Algorithm Watch for the first year of the project.
In May, researchers said Facebook asked to meet with project leaders and accused them of violating the platform’s terms of service. Another objection was that the project violated the GDPR because it collected data from users who did not consent to participate.
“We only collected data related to the content that Facebook showed volunteers who installed the add-on,” the researchers said in their defence.
According to the report, the researchers eventually decided to close the project, believing that they would face legal action from the company if it continued.
The report noted that a Facebook representative confirmed the meeting but denied threats to sue the project, saying the company was ready to find privacy-preserving ways to continue research.
“We had concerns about their practices, which is why we contacted them several times to enable them to comply with our terms and continue their research, as we regularly do with other research groups when We identify similar concerns,” the representative said. Tech website. Read also: Xiaomi launches Mi 100W wireless charging stand that can fully charge the phone in 28 minutes
“We want to continue working with independent researchers, but in ways that do not put people’s data or privacy at risk,” it added. Read also: National Pension Scheme: Invest Rs 50 per day and get Rs 34 lakh on retirement! This way
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outbrain_script.type="text/javascript";
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outbrain_script.src="https://widgets.outbrain.com/outbrain.js";
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handle.autopager('load');
history.pushState('' ,'', url);
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fbid = '#' + $(this).attr('id');
var sr = fbid.replace("#mf", ".sr");
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var title, imageUrl, description, author, shortName, identifier, timestamp, summary, newsID, nextnews;
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var currentScroll = $(this).scrollTop();
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previousScroll = currentScroll;
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$('html head').find('title').text($(this).children().find('.left-block').attr('data-title'));
$('meta[name=description]').attr("content",$(this).children().find('.left-block').attr('data-summary'));
$('meta[name=keywords]').attr("content",$(this).children().find('.left-block').attr('data-keyword'));
$('meta[name=news_keywords]').attr("content",$(this).children().find('.left-block').attr('data-keyword'));
pSUPERFLY.virtualPage(prevLoc,$(this).children().find('.left-block').attr('data-title'));
//console.log("Summary: " + $(this).children().find('.left-block').attr('data-summary'));
//console.log("Keyword: " + $(this).children().find('.left-block').attr('data-keyword'));
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loadshare(prevLoc);
}
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}
});
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url = $(next_selector).attr('href');
x=$(next_selector).attr('id');
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//loadDisqus(jQuery(this), disqus_identifier, disqus_url);
}, 6000);*/
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});
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function disqusToggle() {
var id = $(this).attr("id");
$("#disqus_thread1" + id).toggle();
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var prev_content_height = $(content_selector).height();
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var st = 0;
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