Facebook will provide anonymous user data to researchers to allow them to investigate its role in elections.
The world's largest social media platform is currently embroiled in public and legal backlash for letting its user data be too easily available to research companies using it for nefarious purposes.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will appear before the US Senate today in Washington to answer questions about the Cambridge Analytica data leak, Russian involvement in election adverts on the site and fake news.
Meanwhile, Facebook says it will set up a commission, consisting of legitimate non-profits and academics, to use Facebook user data to research and increase public understanding of the platform's role in elections and democracy.
The non-profits that are involved in and helping to fund the research are: the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Alfred P Sloan Foundation, Charles Koch Foundation, Democracy Fund, John S and James L Knight Foundation, Laura and John Arnold Foundation, and Omidyar Network.
In a group statement, the non-profits said they will support relevant research by an independent and diverse committee of scholars, whose expenses will be paid for by the funding consortium. Facebook will then grant these scholars access to proprietary data.
"Social media is now where many go for news," says Alberto Ibarg"uen, Knight Foundation president. "We can't understand our democracy without opening the hood and taking a look. This first, serious and independent effort to do that is an exciting opportunity to look deep inside the data and operations of the world's largest social network."
"This commitment by Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook reflects the need to take responsibility for how the platform is used," says Larry Kramer, president of the Hewlett Foundation.
"We recognise, given our own institutional heritage, that Silicon Valley leaders with high ideals who pledge and maintain an enduring commitment to the public interest can make a profound and long-lasting contribution to society."
In addition to explanatory research about online behaviour on social media platforms, the foundation plans to support experimental research to help examine potential solutions, as well as ethical, legal and technical research exploring how norms around privacy and free speech must adjust to meet the demands of the digital age.
Pushing narratives
Last year, in SA, an example of how social media and larger companies using the medium can influence the news and discourse was displayed with the Bell Pottinger/Gupta debacle.
The UK-based PR firm and reputation management company was accused of executing a "dirty social media campaign" in the country which involved a network of fake bloggers, commentators and Twitter users trying to sway public opinion.
The firm was accused of using these fake means to push the 'white monopoly capital' narrative and deflect attention from its client Oakbay Investments, which was majority-controlled by the Gupta family. The Guptas were at the time involved in allegations of corruption and state-capture.
Bell Pottinger was eventually fired by all its major clients and expelled from its professional body.
The LinkedIn profile of Mark Turnbull, MD of Cambridge Analytica, states he worked at Bell Pottinger for 18 years. Cambridge Analytica is accused of using Facebook user data to build profiles of people to target with adverts and propaganda.
Cambridge Analytica has also been involved in South African politics. On the company's Web site, in its case studies section, it states it ran a communications campaign in the first post-apartheid election in 1994.
"CA was contracted by a South African political party to mitigate the prospect of electoral violence across the country during the first post-apartheid election. April 1994 saw the country's first general elections in which citizens of all races were allowed to take part, with millions queuing over a three-day voting period.
"CA provided assistance in this era of negotiations and transition. A carefully controlled communications strategy was produced, designed to ensure the process of political campaigning did not engender physical conflict. CA's work in South Africa was one of the organisation's principal early successes," it notes.
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