Meta Content Library and API

Frequently asked questions

The following general disclosures apply to both Meta Content Library and API.

Access, eligibility, and publication

Who can gain access to Content Library and API?

Any researchers who meet the eligibility criteria (see Get access), provided all other terms and conditions are met, may access Content Library and API.

Are global researchers eligible for access to Content Library and API?

We welcome global researchers, but access to or use of our tools and data must comply with all applicable laws, 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.

Is payment required to access Meta Content Library and API on Meta Secure Research Environment?

No. There are no fees associated with access or computation to Meta Content Library web-based interface or the API on the Meta Secure Research Environment.

What if my research program changes? Is a new application required?

If your research program substantially changes after having an application approved, or you have a new research program you’d like to use for Meta Content Library, the lead researcher must submit a new application in Research Tools Manager.

What if I change institutions? Is a new application required?

If you are a lead researcher and will need continued access to Meta Content Library, you will need to submit a new application and notify Meta via metaresearchapplications@meta.com of the institutional change.

If you are a collaborator and need continued access to Meta Content Library, your lead researcher will need to invite you to the approved research program with your new organizational email address. You will need to submit a new application and notify Meta via metaresearchapplications@meta.com.

How does the application and access process work for users who collaborate together or are part of a larger research team?

To be added as a collaborator to a research program, the lead researcher of the research program must send an invitation to you to join the research program through Research Tools Manager. After you receive the invitation, you will be redirected to submit your application.

Does Meta place any restrictions on how I can publish with data from the Meta Content Library and API?

Research outputs (such as tables, graphs, and analysis) may be published but are subject to obligations and restrictions set forth in the Meta Research Tools Terms and Conditions. For publications based solely on Meta Content Library and/or API, Meta will not ask to review research manuscripts prior to publication. However, we ask that the Meta attribution guidelines (see Citations) are followed and that notice is provided upon publishing.

How does Meta define qualified in terms of academic and research institutions?

For academic institutions, qualified means the institution meets all of the following criteria. It is:

  • Dedicated to the pursuit of education and research.

  • Accredited, as indicated by recognized standards and evidence on the institution's website (such as a university), or as demonstrated by documentation provided to ICPSR or CASD.

  • Qualified to grant academic degrees (such as undergraduate, graduate, doctoral).

  • A not-for-profit endeavor (in other words, not a business whose sole purpose is to make a profit).

For research institutions, qualified means the institution is a non-university organization, institute, or society/entity which operates as a not-for-profit entity and holds scientific or public interest research as a primary purpose or core activity.

Views

How are views defined?

In Meta Content Library and API, views are defined as the cumulative number of times a post was on screen, including multiple appearances of the post on screen from the same account. The content must be displayed for at least 250 milliseconds in order to qualify. Appearances on the post owner’s screen are not included. The post has to be fully visible in order to qualify.

Video posts: views are counted whether the video was played or not.

Reshares: When a reshared post is on screen for a user, the view count for both the original post and the reshared post increment by one. For example, suppose user A makes a post and user B shares that post. If a third user views the post shared by B, then the view counts for both the original post from A and the reshare from B increment.

Only posts with more than 100 views display the view count. A post displays no view count value if there were fewer than 100 views as of the last refresh.

Some posts don't have any views even though they have engagement on them. Why is that?

Views are available for posts created after January 2017 on Facebook and after October 2022 on Instagram. Updates to views can take up to 17 days. This means the number of views visible for a post can be up to 17 days old and for posts newer than 17 days, it's possible that some would not have views available.

Secure Research Environment and Content Library API

Can I export data out of the Secure Research Environment?

Download or export of Content Library API data from the Secure Research Environment is not permitted.

Can I upload datasets into my research environment on Secure Research Environment?

You may not upload any data to Secure Research Environment when working with data from Content Library API. However, machine learning models, code, and code libraries that you have the necessary rights to use are permitted for upload.

What research environments are available on Secure Research Environment?

Researchers will have access to JupyterLab with support for R, Python and Stata programming languages.

How does data deletion work on Secure Research Environment?

Secure Research Environment JupyterHub environment programmatically deletes all Content Library API research output data and local files generated by the user from the JupyterHub environment every 30 days on the first of every month. This ensures that updates made to the visibility of content on Facebook or Instagram are carried over to Secure Research Environment in accordance with Meta policies. See Data deletion to learn more.

Can I use the Meta Content Library API outside of Secure Research Environment?

The API is also hosted in approved third-party virtual cleanroom environments such as the one provided by the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) at the University of Michigan. The user interface and feature support specifics of third-party cleanrooms depend upon the individual environments. The documentation of these user interfaces is outside the scope of Meta Content Library API documentation.

Rate limits and query budget

Does rate-limiting apply to Content Library API?

Yes it does. The limits are as follows:

  • You can perform up to 60 synchronous calls per minute.
  • You can perform one asynchronous call per minute.

Does rate-limiting apply to Content Library?

Yes it does. You can perform up to 60 searches per minute.

Is there a limit to the total number of results allowed in Content Library and API?

For Content Library and API combined, one researcher can retrieve a maximum of 500,000 data records per 7-day rolling window. This is referred to as a query budget. The rolling window is one week previous to the current timestamp (to the second).

See Rate limiting and query budgeting to learn more.