US lawmaker says Facebook move to cut off researcher access is ‘deeply concerning’

Senator Mark Warner said on Wednesday that Facebook Inc’s move to disable the accounts of a group of New York University researchers who were studying political ads on its platform was “deeply concerning.”

Facebook said on Tuesday it had cut off the personal accounts and access of the NYU researchers, who were studying political ads on the site, because of concerns about other users’ privacy.

Warner, chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said that the action was a step backward.

“This latest action by Facebook to cut off an outside group’s transparency efforts – efforts that have repeatedly facilitated revelations of ads violating Facebook’s terms of service, ads for frauds and predatory financial schemes,