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.

Do researchers have to pay to access Content Library and API?

No. There are no fees associated with access or computation.

Do researchers have to reapply for access if they change their research topic or proposal?

If the researcher has made any substantive changes to their research topic, proposal or research ethics documentation since having their application approved by the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR), they must reapply for access.

Do global researchers affiliated with institutions not in the United States still need to apply through ICPSR?

Yes. All Content Library and API researcher applications are processed and reviewed by ICPSR.

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

ICPSR will process and review applications from teams of researchers with a clearly identified research lead and collaborators. For more information please reference the ICPSR application page.

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

Researchers may publish Research Outputs (such as tables, graphs, and analysis), but may not publish any Confidential Information or Personal Data. For publications based solely on Content Library and/or API, Meta will not ask to review research manuscripts prior to publication. However, we ask that researchers follow Meta’s attribution guidelines (see Citations) and provide notice upon publishing.

Please refer to the Product Terms for Meta Research Tools for the requirements and conditions related to publication.

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.

  • 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.

Researcher Platform and Content Library API

Can I export data out of the Researcher Platform?

Download or export of Content Library API data from the Researcher Platform is not permitted.

Can I upload datasets into my research environment on Researcher Platform?

You may not upload any data to Researcher Platform 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 Researcher Platform?

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

How does data deletion work on Researcher Platform?

Researcher Platform 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 Researcher Platform in accordance with Meta policies. See Data deletion to learn more.

Can I use the Meta Content Library API outside of Researcher Platform?

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.