The Backlash Against Sharing Social Media Data Is Bad for Science

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg faced myriad questions during his extended congressional testimonies about the Cambridge Analytica scandal, yet mostly lost in the din was any consideration for the fact that Facebook data serves the broader public interest by providing a tremendously valuable resource for scientific research. As the Center for Data Innovation’s Joshua New writes for Morning Consult, the benefits of using social network data in research can be substantial. Facebook and other companies should be encouraged to make their data available to researchers in accordance with appropriate ethical and legal standards, such as safeguarding personally identifiable information, while also making sure researchers live up to those standards.