Scholars unite in fight with FB over tool to check ads

Academics, journalists and First Amendment lawyers are rallying behind New York University researchers in a showdown with Facebook over its demand that they halt the collection of data showing who is being micro-targeted by political ads on the world’s dominant social media website.

The researchers say the disputed tool is vital to understanding how Facebook has been used to act as a conduit for disinformation and manipulation.

In an October 16 letter to the researchers, a Facebook executive demanded they disable a special plug-in for Chrome and Firefox browsers that they have distributed to thousands of volunteers across the US — and delete the data obtained.