• About Us
  • Who Are We
  • Work With Us
Friday, September 29, 2023
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Globe Post
39 °f
New York
44 ° Fri
46 ° Sat
40 ° Sun
41 ° Mon
No Result
View All Result
The Globe Post
No Result
View All Result
Home National

Facebook to Fund Research on Social Media Impact on Elections

Staff Writer by Staff Writer
04/29/19
in National, World
Mark Zuckerberg

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks at the F8 summit in San Francisco, California, on March 25, 2015. Photo: Josh Edelson/AFP

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Facebook announced Monday its first research grants to academics studying the impact of social media on elections, part of an effort to prevent manipulation of social platforms.

The leading social network said some 60 researchers from 30 academic institutions across 11 countries were selected under a review process by the Social Science Research Council and the independent group Social Science One.

Facebook began the research initiative last year after revelations of foreign influence campaigns on the 2016 U.S. election and the Brexit vote in Britain.

It began soliciting proposals last year, and on Monday unveiled its first research grants.

“To assure the independence of the research and the researchers, Facebook did not play any role in the selection of the individuals or their projects and will have no role in directing the findings or conclusions of the research,” said a blog post by Facebook executives Elliot Schrage and Chaya Nayak.

“We hope this initiative will deepen public understanding of the role social media has on elections and democracy and help Facebook and other companies improve their products and practices.”

New podcast alert ???? This year Mark Zuckerberg is hosting discussions on the future of tech and society. Listen along: https://t.co/5rIBdrbsb5

— Facebook (@facebook) April 24, 2019

The researchers will be granted access to Facebook’s internal data through a “first-of-its-kind data sharing infrastructure to provide researchers access to Facebook data in a secure manner that protects people’s privacy,” Schrage and Nayak wrote.

“Some of these steps include building a process to remove personally identifiable information from the data set and only allowing researcher access to the data set through a secure portal.”

Gary King and Nathaniel Persily of Social Science One said in a statement the researchers will seek to move swiftly to help social networks improve their security and integrity.

“The urgency of this research cannot be overstated,” they wrote.

“Elections in India are already underway, the European Parliamentary elections will take place in short order, and the U.S. presidential primary campaigns have begun in earnest. Concerns about disinformation, polarization, political advertising, and the role of platforms in the information ecosystem have not diminished. If anything, they have heightened.”

Some of the research groups cited are based at Northeastern University, Ohio State University and New York University and Virginia Tech University in the United States; France’s Institute of Political Studies; National Chengchi University in Taiwan; Italy’s Universita di Urbino Carlo Bo; University of Sao Paulo in Brazil; Germany’s Technical University of Munich; the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands; and Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile.


More on the Subject

Facebook should not be seen as a simple tool or neutral technology; it is a multi-billion-dollar business, which is built on constant and ever more sophisticated and nuanced surveillance of users. It is carried out to gather, analyze, and ultimately monetize user data. In other words, it is a business enterprise whose revenue, in the end, depends on its success in the invasion of the privacy of users, Ivan Manokha, Departmental Lecturer in International Political Economy at the University of Oxford, wrote in The Globe Post.

Facebook’s Anniversary: Fifteen Years Since User Data Became Commodity

ShareTweet
Staff Writer

Staff Writer

AFP with The Globe Post

Related Posts

Instagram
Featured

Instagram ‘Most Important Platform’ for Child Sex Abuse Networks: Report

by Staff Writer
June 28, 2023
Facebook hate speech
Business

UN Slams Facebook Decision on Violent Messages

by Staff Writer
March 11, 2022
Baidu
Business

Chinese Tech Giant Baidu Tests Metaverse Waters With New App

by Staff Writer
December 27, 2021
Instagram
Business

Instagram’s Impact on Children Probed by US States

by Staff Writer
November 18, 2021
‘Very… Meta’: Twitter Cracks Up Over Facebook Name Change
Business

‘Very… Meta’: Twitter Cracks Up Over Facebook Name Change

by Staff Writer
October 29, 2021
Mark Zuckerberg
Business

Facebook Announces 10,000 EU Jobs to Build ‘Metaverse’

by Staff Writer
October 18, 2021
Next Post
EU and British flags fly near Westminster, London.

New UK Rules Over Rape Victims' Digital Data Spark Criticism

The Xinjiang region of China

Int'l Community 'Increasingly Responsible' for China's Uighur Abuses [US Report]

Recommended

Health care workers in Richmond, Texas. Photo: AFP

US Healthcare Industry Top Target of Cyber Attacks: Report

September 29, 2023
Joe Biden

The ‘Polycrisis’ Challenge: Biden’s Vision for Global Problem-Solving

September 26, 2023
Air France flights

Niger Bans French Aircraft From Its Airspace: Aviation Authority 

September 25, 2023
Chinese President Xi Jinping

China Announces ‘Strategic Partnership’ With Syria

September 22, 2023
Man holding up a colored LGBT flag

France Sets Up Embassy Fund to Defend LGBTQ Rights

September 19, 2023
US Authorities Seize Artworks Allegedly Stolen by Nazis

US Authorities Seize Artworks Allegedly Stolen by Nazis

September 19, 2023

Opinion

Joe Biden

The ‘Polycrisis’ Challenge: Biden’s Vision for Global Problem-Solving

September 26, 2023
Pro-Trump protester in front of Capitol Hill.

The Ominous (and Irresponsible) Chatter of a Civil War 

September 4, 2023
A bamboo-based design raises family homes safely above water levels to cope with raising water levels in Bangladesh.

The West Owes Climate Refugees Reparations Now

August 14, 2023
President Donald Trump in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House.

Boxing Day Comes to South Florida

July 5, 2023
‘Deaths of Despair:’ Why Are US Suicides on the Rise?

An Inspired Choice to Lead the CDC

June 13, 2023
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaks at the Republican Jewish Coalition Annual Leadership Meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada, on November 19, 2022.

Florida Man Channels Benito Mussolini

June 13, 2023
Facebook Twitter

Newsletter

Do you like our reporting?
SUBSCRIBE

About Us

The Globe Post

The Globe Post is part of Globe Post Media, a U.S. digital news organization that is publishing the world's best targeted news sites.

submit oped

© 2018 The Globe Post

No Result
View All Result
  • National
  • World
  • Business
  • Interviews
  • Lifestyle
  • Democracy at Risk
    • Media Freedom
  • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Columns
    • Book Reviews
    • Stage
  • Submit Op-ed

© 2018 The Globe Post