• Marketing Land
  • Sections
    • CMO
    • Social
    • SEM
    • SEO
    • Analytics
    • Display
    • Retail
    • MarTech
    • Resources
    • More
    • Home
  • Follow Us
    • Follow
  • Marketing Land
  • CMO
  • Social
  • SEM
  • SEO
  • Analytics
  • Display
  • Retail
  • MarTech
  • Resources
  • More
    • Follow
  • SUBSCRIBE

Marketing Land

Marketing Land
  • CMO
  • Social
  • SEM
  • SEO
  • Analytics
  • Display
  • Retail
  • MarTech
  • Resources
  • More
  • Home
  • Newsletters
  • Home
Social Media Marketing

Where some see data suppression, Facebook says it was only following privacy policy

CrowdTangle tool enabled social media analyst to access cached pages from inactive or deleted accounts tied to Russian election meddling.

Greg Sterling on October 12, 2017 at 7:19 pm
  • More

An article appearing in The Washington Post about Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election says Facebook “scrubbed” thousands of organic posts associated with accounts used by Russian operatives. The implication is that Facebook is suppressing information to avoid further embarrassment or negative PR.

Facebook told Marketing Land that the Post article doesn’t reflect what actually happened. The company explained it “is cooperating fully with federal investigations and providing info to the relevant authorities.”

I spoke at some length with a Facebook spokesperson on the record and on background. CrowdTangle was the tool used to unearth the disputed posts. The browser plug-in was acquired by Facebook in roughly November 2016.

I was also told by Facebook that the accounts in question were all “inactive,” which means they were either deleted or deactivated by the Page administrator or in some way violated Facebook’s terms of service and were deactivated by the company.

Facebook’s privacy policy requires that inactive or deleted accounts be removed from public access or view. According to the company, the inactive accounts and their related posts should not have been accessible at all — anywhere — regardless of their content. However, CrowdTangle was able to discover and retrieve cached pages from these inactive accounts.

The problem was characterized by Facebook as a “bug.” It was more like an inconsistency between Facebook’s privacy policy and what CrowdTangle could access. That inconsistency was not uncovered, Facebook says, until the inactive account posts were discovered by social media analyst Jonathan Albright.

Admittedly, Facebook’s explanation has a dubious quality about it. But the company says there’s no attempt here to suppress or conceal information. Rather it was seeking to comply with its own privacy policies.

Here’s the official statement provided by Facebook’s spokesperson:

We identified and fixed a bug in CrowdTangle that allowed users to see cached information from all inactive Facebook Pages. Across all our platforms we have privacy commitments to make all inactive content, that is no longer available, inaccessible. With this fix, the information from all Inactive Pages will now not be available.

Facebook also indicated to me one reason the CrowdTangle “bug” had not previously been discovered is that the tool is rarely used to look for historical information. Most marketers and journalists use it for real-time information and content discovery.

In terms of any concerns this might trigger for marketers, there should be none. The posts in question were from inactive accounts, and Facebook says there are no data removals or purges for active accounts.


Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Marketing Land. Staff authors are listed here.



About The Author

Greg Sterling
Greg Sterling is a Contributing Editor to Search Engine Land, a member of the programming team for SMX events and the VP, Market Insights at Uberall.

Related Topics

Channel: Social Media MarketingFacebookFacebook: LegalFacebook: PrivacySocial Media Marketing

We're listening.

Have something to say about this article? Share it with us on Facebook, Twitter or our LinkedIn Group.

Get the daily newsletter digital marketers rely on.
See terms.

ATTEND OUR EVENTS

MarTech 2021: March 16-17

MarTech 2021: Sept. 14-15

MarTech 2020: Watch On-Demand

×

Attend MarTech - Click Here


Learn More About Our MarTech Events

February 23, 2021: SMX Report

April 13, 2021: SMX Create

May 18-19, 2021: SMX London

June 8-9, 2021: SMX Paris

June 15-16, 2021: SMX Advanced

August 17, 2021: SMX Convert

November 9-10, 2021: SMX Next

October 2021: SMX Advanced Europe

December17, 2021: SMX Code

Available On-Demand: SMX

×


Learn More About Our SMX Events

White Papers

  • Digital Marketing Report Q4 2020: Benchmarks and Insights for 2021
  • Data SEO – The Next Big Adventure
  • Getting Started with Email Marketing Automation
  • The State of Local Marketing Report 2020-2021
  • Quality CRM Data: The Key to Delivering Great Customer Experiences
See More Whitepapers

Webinars

  • How to Avoid the Digital Transformation Trap
  • How to Build a Marketing System of Record
  • Meet BIMI: The brand-boosting email security marketers must have for 2021
See More Webinars

Research Reports

  • Local Marketing Solutions for Multi-Location Businesses
  • Enterprise Digital Asset Management Platforms
  • Identity Resolution Platforms
  • Customer Data Platforms
  • B2B Marketing Automation Platforms
  • Call Analytics Platforms
See More Research

h
Receive daily marketing news & analysis.
Marketing Land
Download the Marketing Land app on iTunes Download the Marketing Land App on Google Play

Channels

  • MarTech
  • CMO
  • Social
  • SEM
  • SEO
  • Mobile
  • Analytics
  • Retail
  • Display

Our Events

  • MarTech
  • SMX

Resources

  • White Papers
  • Research
  • Webinars
  • MarTech Conference
  • Search Marketing Expo

About

  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Marketing Opportunities
  • Staff
  • Connect With Us

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Newsletters
  • Instagram
  • RSS
  • Youtube
  • iOS App
  • Google Play

© 2021 Third Door Media, Inc. All rights reserved.

Your privacy means the world to us. We share your personal information only when you give us explicit permission to do so, and confirm we have your permission each time. Learn more by viewing our privacy policy.Ok