Or they could partner with NYU, offer technical insight to maintain integrity and privacy (me stifles laughter) and do everything to support researchers who potentially could help build trust in their platform.
Going after this group just isn't a good look if you're Facebook. If there are valid concerns then don't start with a Cease and Desist.
Some research just isn't worth the risk, but as an outsider, I'm not in a place to make that judgement. NYU could also insure against data breaches; in that case, we might get some good security audits.
So could any browser extension with the ol' "read and modify your data on \*" permission. Or any browser. Or any third-party Facebook client.
There is a difference between being technically capable of doing a thing and actually doing the thing- especially in cases where the software authors are well-known and relatively easy to hold accountable. To say otherwise is a little bit goofy!
Like a certain lecturer and senior researcher at University of Cambridge?
They are just doing it more economically then sending a person. This is entirely unlike CA, which effectively, sent a person to go through all participants available information as quickly as possible while they weren’t looking and store a copy of everything.