Connector · mandatory platform

Facebook

Requires AccessAccess not in place

There is no general-purpose, programmatic way for a third party to search or stream public Facebook content. Public content search and hashtag search APIs were removed. The only surface returning other people's public posts, comments, Groups and events at scale is Meta Content Library, which is restricted to qualified academic and non-profit research institutions inside a cleanroom.

Practical ceiling

What this connector can reach today

Reachable

Read, write and moderate a Page the operator administers.
Read public metadata of any Page (name, category, fan count, About).
Route a finished evidence package to Meta's manual reporting channels.

Not reachable

Search or stream other people's public posts, comments or Reels through any official third-party API.
Monitor public Groups — no official third-party API reaches them.
Submit a programmatic removal request — no such API exists for third parties.

Own-Page read, write and moderation; public metadata of any Page; and lawfully routed bulk access via a research partnership (L3). A 100% public-content monitoring claim is not achievable on Facebook through official channels.

Exact dependency preventing live operation

Bulk public Facebook content is blocked by: no official third-party public-content API. The only lawful route to it is Meta Content Library, which requires a qualified academic or non-academic research institution as lead applicant. Meta's eligibility rule is organisational, not geographic, and Pakistan is not on Meta's sanctions-exclusion list — so a Pakistani not-for-profit research institution or not-for-profit university can in principle qualify. Read-only cleanroom; no raw-data export; no action on content.

Capability register

8 registered capabilities

Own-Page posts, comments, media and insightsLivecollection
Required scope
pages_read_engagement (+ pages_manage_posts to moderate)
Collection latency
Near real-time (webhooks) / seconds (polling)
Quota
Page-level rate limits; 200 calls per user per hour per app baseline
Known coverage gap
Reaches only Pages the operator administers.
Blocking dependency
None — reachable.
Public metadata of any Page (name, category, fan count, About)Limitedcollection
Required scope
Page Public Metadata Access feature
Collection latency
Seconds
Quota
App-level rate limits apply
Known coverage gap
Metadata only — returns no posts and no comments.
Blocking dependency
Requires Meta App Review plus Business Verification for Advanced Access.
Third-party public post and comment searchUnsupportedcollection
Required scope
None — no official scope exists.
Collection latency
Not applicable.
Quota
Not published.
Known coverage gap
Public Content Search and hashtag search APIs were removed years ago.
Blocking dependency
No official surface exists. Do not substitute unofficial scraping — it violates Meta's terms.
Public Group content monitoringUnsupportedcollection
Required scope
None — no official scope exists.
Collection latency
Not applicable.
Quota
Not published.
Known coverage gap
No official third-party API reaches public Groups.
Blocking dependency
Group content is reachable only through Meta Content Library, inside a researcher cleanroom.
Bulk public content via Meta Content LibraryRequires Accessaccess
Required scope
Content Library API (institutional access)
Collection latency
Near real-time for the research tool; API latency varies
Quota
Set by Meta per approved institution
Known coverage gap
Read-only. The operator is a beneficiary of analysis, never the applicant, data holder or raw-data recipient.
Blocking dependency
Requires a qualified academic or non-academic research institution as lead applicant. Meta's eligibility rule is organisational, not geographic, and Pakistan is not on Meta's sanctions-exclusion list — a Pakistani not-for-profit research institution or not-for-profit university can in principle qualify. Read-only cleanroom; no raw-data export; no action on content.
Government legal-process channel (account-scoped)Limitedaccess
Required scope
Meta Law Enforcement Online Request System (LEORS)
Collection latency
Days to weeks (reactive)
Quota
Case-by-case on valid legal process
Known coverage gap
Account-scoped and REACTIVE — this is not a public-content feed and must never be presented as monitoring.
Blocking dependency
Requires valid legal process from an authorised agency.
In-country restriction (PTA)Liveenforcement
Required scope
PTA under PECA s.37(1) + 2021 Rules
Collection latency
Days
Quota
Not published.
Known coverage gap
Not removal; not hermetic (VPN / encrypted DNS evade it).
Blocking dependency
None — reachable.
Third-party programmatic content removalUnsupportedenforcement
Required scope
None — no official scope exists.
Collection latency
Not applicable.
Quota
Not published.
Known coverage gap
No third-party removal API exists.
Blocking dependency
Manual only: in-product reporting and Meta's IP / brand-rights / impersonation forms. CrowdTangle was discontinued on 14 August 2024.

Every non-live row names the dependency that blocks it. Gaps are listed rather than hidden.

Content-type matrix

Supported content types

PostRequires Access
No public-post search API exists. Bulk public content is reachable only through Meta Content Library (L3 research partnership).
Dependency: Meta Content Library institutional access (L3): requires a qualified academic or non-profit research institution as lead applicant; read-only cleanroom with no raw-data export.
PageLimited
Public Page metadata (name, category, fan count, About) only; returns no posts and no comments.
Dependency: Requires Meta App Review plus Business Verification for Advanced Access.
Public groupUnsupported
No official third-party API reaches public Groups.
Dependency: Public Group content is reachable only inside the Meta Content Library cleanroom.
CommentUnsupported
Third-party comment search was removed; only comments on Pages you administer are readable.
Dependency: Own-Page comments require pages_manage_posts; no public comment surface exists.
ImageRequires Access
Media is reachable only inside the Content Library cleanroom; own-Page media is live.
Dependency: Meta Content Library institutional access (L3): requires a qualified academic or non-profit research institution as lead applicant; read-only cleanroom with no raw-data export.
VideoRequires Access
Video is reachable only inside the Content Library cleanroom; own-Page video is live.
Dependency: Meta Content Library institutional access (L3): requires a qualified academic or non-profit research institution as lead applicant; read-only cleanroom with no raw-data export.
ReelRequires Access
Reels surface as media inside the Content Library cleanroom; own-Page Reels are live.
Dependency: Meta Content Library institutional access (L3): requires a qualified academic or non-profit research institution as lead applicant; read-only cleanroom with no raw-data export.

One row per mandatory content type, stating which lawful route (if any) reaches it. A live status names a content type that is reachable today — it is not a measure of how much of the platform is visible.

End-to-end walk

Acceptance walk for this platform

01
Ingestion or URL submission
02
Multimodal analysis
03
Evidence (PECA s.38 package)
04
Case opened
05
Reviewer approval at the human gate
06
Supported enforcement request
07
Outcome verification
08
Recorded as rejected, failed or inconclusive

Sandbox operation is labelled as such throughout. It does not count as completed live platform coverage.

Where access is unavailable the walk runs in a sandbox with synthetic data. That is not completed live platform coverage.

In-country restriction — a separate track

Restricts access INSIDE PAKISTAN. This is NOT removal: it does not delete content, does not touch the platform's servers, and does not affect anyone outside Pakistan. It is not hermetic — VPNs and encrypted DNS evade network-layer blocking. It is a power of PTA under PECA 2016 s.37(1) and the Removal and Blocking of Unlawful Online Content (Procedure, Oversight and Safeguards) Rules 2021 — NOT a power of this application. This application prepares and tracks a request; it never executes a block.

Regulatory content is quoted for operational reference only and is not legal advice.