social-facebook
Meta Content Library
Meta's research tool for studying public Facebook and Instagram content, the successor to CrowdTangle, exposing posts with over 100 data fields. Access is restricted to vetted academic and nonprofit researchers, who work inside Meta's secure environment after ICPSR vetting; there is no public website or open API. Listed so researchers know the official route into Facebook/Instagram data exists; apply through ICPSR if you qualify.
No programmatic check, opens the archive’s own search.
Why it’s useful & how it works
Meta Content Library gives vetted researchers structured access to public Facebook and Instagram content at a scale and depth that no public website offers: over 100 data fields per post, covering reactions, shares, view counts, and more. Access is restricted to academic and nonprofit researchers who apply through ICPSR, the University of Michigan-hosted data consortium, and all work takes place inside Meta's secure virtual data environment rather than on the open internet. Approval typically takes two to six weeks. Starting in 2026, SOMAR charges research teams a monthly fee for enclave access. Echo links qualified researchers to the application page.
What’s inside
Covers public Facebook Pages, posts, groups, events, profiles, comments, Marketplace listings, and fundraisers, as well as public Instagram accounts, posts, stories, highlights, and comments. The dataset is near-real-time, reflecting the live state of public content across both platforms.
API access
Content Library API (Python/R) inside Meta's secure enclave; not a public REST endpoint
An API key is required (usually free); see the endpoints above for where to get one.
What we measured
Our own probes, not the archive’s own claims. Re-run periodically; every reading below is dated.
Reachability
- Direct request
- Blocked HTTP 400 870 ms
- Through a datacenter proxy
- Blocked HTTP 400 1.3 s
Reachability measured 2026-08-22.
Access
May be geo- or IP-blocked from some networks.