Facebook study says users control what they see, but critics disagree David Lazer, a professor at Northeastern University, gave Facebook points for conducting the study — but warned that there is a need for independent analysis of social networks’ data. “It is laudable that Facebook supported this research and has invested in the public good of general scientific knowledge. Indeed, the information age hegemons should proactively support research on the ethical implications of the systems that they build,” Lazer wrote in Science. The Huffington Post