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Other policies that apply to Meta technologies.
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Content Library and Content Library API
Comprehensive access to public data from Facebook and Instagram
Ad Library tools
Comprehensive and searchable database of all ads currently running across Meta technologies
Other research tools and datasets
Additional tools for in-depth research on Meta technologies and programs
Community Standards enforcement report
Quarterly report on how well we're doing at enforcing our policies in the Facebook app and on Instagram.
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Report on how well we're helping people protect their intellectual property.
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Report on government request for people's data.
Content restrictions based on local law
Report on when we restrict content that's reported to us as violating local law.
Internet disruptions
Report on intentional Internet restrictions that limit people's ability to access the Internet.
Widely viewed content report
Quarterly report on what people see on Facebook, including the content that receives the widest distribution during the quarter.
Regulatory and other transparency reports
Download current and past regulatory reports for Facebook and Instagram.
Meta Content Library and Content Library API provide comprehensive access to the full public content archive from Facebook and Instagram. Individuals can apply for access to the tools with the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) at the University of Michigan. Learn more about applying for access
Available data
Both tools provide near real-time public content from Facebook and Instagram. The web-based tool also provides access to content from Threads. Details about the content, such as the post owner and the number of reactions, shares and post views are available as well.
Accessible data includes posts shared to and information about Pages, groups and events, as well as a subset of public profiles belonging to widely-known individuals and organisations.
Accessible data includes posts shared by and information about business and creator accounts, as well as a subset of personal accounts belonging to widely-known individuals and organisations.
THREADS
Accessible data includes posts shared by and information about public profiles with 1,000 or more followers.
Content Library
Meta Content Library is a web-based, controlled-access environment. A deeper analysis of the public content can be performed using Content Library API in a clean room environment.
SEARCHING AND FILTERING
Easily search all public posts across Facebook, Instagram and Threads with comprehensive sorting and filtering options. Post results can be filtered by language, view count, content type, content producer and more. Search results can be shown in card view or table view.
MULTIMEDIA
Dynamically explore and analyse photos, videos and reels from Facebook, Instagram and Threads. Further enhance your search by finding matches to text in images posted to Facebook and Instagram.
PRODUCER LISTS
Refine search results with customisable collections of content producers. Producer lists applied to a search query surface public content from specific content owners on Facebook, Instagram or Threads.
TRENDS IN POSTS CREATED
Explore normalised trend graphs showing how often content matching search keywords was posted on Facebook, Instagram or Threads within the chosen date range.
DOWNLOADABLE DATA
Download Facebook and Instagram posts made by widely-known individuals and organisations with a verified badge or 25,000 or more followers. (A verified badge in this context refers to accounts confirmed as authentic and not those with a paid Meta Verified subscription). Then export this data into a CSV file for further analysis. This feature is available for ICPSR-approved applicants.
DASHBOARDS
Create custom dashboards to quickly display post feeds and trend charts based on selected keywords and producers.
Content Library API
Content Library API allows programmatic queries of the data and is designed for computational researchers familiar with R or Python. Data pulled from the API can be analysed in a clean room environment.
ENDPOINTS AND DATA FIELDS
Search across over 100 data fields with multiple dedicated endpoints in Content Library API. For Facebook, this includes Pages, posts, groups, events, profiles and comments. For Instagram, this includes accounts, posts and comments.
SEARCH INDEXING AND RESULTS
Return up to 100,000 results per query using powerful search capabilities.
ASYNCHRONOUS SEARCH
Run queries in the background while working on other tasks by using asynchronous search. Query progress is monitored and tracked by the API.
How to gain access
Meta has partnered with the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) at the University of Michigan to share public data from Meta technologies in a responsible, privacy-preserving way. This partnership is enabled through ICPSR's industry-leading Social Media Archive (SOMAR) initiative.
INDEPENDENT APPLICATION REVIEW
The Social Media Archive (SOMAR) at ICPSR independently processes and reviews applications for access to Meta Content Library. The application can be accessed through this form.
API INTEGRATION
Content Library API is now hosted within SOMAR's secure virtual data enclave. Researchers approved by ICPSR will use this secure environment to access and analyse public data from the API.
RESEARCH SERVICES
A global leader in data stewardship, ICPSR offers the social science research community – including researchers who use Meta Content Library – training in data access, curation and methods of analysis.
Eligibility requirements
Affiliation with an academic institution or other non-university organisation, institute or society which operates as a not-for-profit entity and holds scientific or public interest research as a primary purpose or core activity is required to be eligible for access. Individuals from different disciplinary and professional backgrounds are welcome to apply.
Product documentation
Researchers can explore our developer documentation to learn more about the features, search quality and data available in Meta Content Library and Content Library API.
Publishing with Meta Content Library and Content Library API
Researchers may publish and share the results and findings of their research without prior approval from Meta. Meta will not ask to review research manuscripts prior to publication, but we ask that researchers follow Meta's attribution guidelines and provide notice upon publishing.
Frequently asked questions
We welcome global researchers, but access to or use of our tools and data must comply with all applicable laws, policies, rules and regulations. In addition, the researcher applicant, and any academic university or institution with which the applicant is affiliated, must not be in a jurisdiction that is the target of sanctions imposed by the United States, United Kingdom, European Union or United Nations.
No. There are no fees associated with access or computation.
If any substantive changes were made to a research agenda since having an application approved by ICPSR, a new application must be submitted.
Yes. All Content Library and Content Library API applications are processed and reviewed by ICPSR
No. Public content is excluded from certain countries where we are evaluating compliance with applicable legal requirements.