Facebook Blacklists Instagram Researchers Studying Algorithm Manipulation

by Lucas Nolan

Research group AlgorithmWatch was recently forced to end its Instagram algorithm monitoring project following fears of legal repercussions from tech giant Facebook.

Reclaim The Net reports that the Germany-based research group AlgorithmWatch has been forced to suspend its Instagram algorithm research project due to fears of legal repercussions from Facebook. AlgorithmWatch was conducting research on how the Instagram algorithm prioritizes content and learning more about it via the use of a browser extension that collects data from users’ Instagram feeds.

The latest information released by AlgorithmWatch relating to Instagram shows that the photo and video-sharing app prioritizes photos with faces higher than those that simply contained text and appeared to promote content that showed more bare skin. Facebook has previously taken issue with the project’s methodology, but let it continue to run for more than a year without issue.

full story at https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2021/08/16/facebook-blacklists-instagram-researchers-studying-algorithm-manipulation/