The writer is director of public policy for Mozilla, a non-profit internet group
For too long, accountability in the tech sector has been allowed to fall short. Information is power, after all, and harms can fester when hidden. It is therefore all the more concerning that Facebook has once again sought to shut down public interest research on its platform.
Its decision last week to terminate the personal accounts of the New York University researchers who built Ad Observer, an extension that sheds light on political advertising on the platform, was a stark reminder of the fragility of transparency. Facebook says it acted out of concern for user data, a curious claim considering Mozilla’s privacy and security reviews of Ad Observer’s source code found it to be robust and trustworthy.