Facebook to Give Scholars Petabyte of Data on Misinformation

An independent research initiative that Facebook Inc. announced in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal is launching its first study, offering scholars access to a petabyte of anonymized user data to understand the role of misinformation in elections.

The data -- amounting to 1 million gigabytes -- will include almost all public URLs Facebook users globally have clicked on in the past year, including stories third-party fact checkers have deemed false, according to Harvard University political science professor Gary King, who is co-chairman of the effort. The data also includes demographic details of those who engaged with the links, such as the age, gender, ideological affiliation of users as well as their friends, and on their behaviors, such as whether they shared the link without opening it, or if they used a happy or sad face to comment on it.