A group of New York University researchers say they have been banned from Facebook for looking into political ad transparency and misinformation on the ubiquitous social network. Members of the NYU Tandon School of Engineering, who call themselves Cybersecurity for Democracy (CFD) created Ad Observer, a browser plug-in that automatically scrapes data on what political ads users are being shown and why. On its website, the group insists the plug-in does not collect personal information, like names, Facebook friends, or how users interacted with the ads. Claiming their work was non-partisan, they say it's 'important to democracy to be able to check who is trying to influence the public and how.' But in a blog post Tuesday, Facebook project management director Mike Clark said the personal accounts of three CFD members were suspended because the Ad Observer plug-in used 'unauthorized means to access and collect data from Facebook, in violation of our terms of service'. Scroll down for video Members of NYU's engineering school created a plug-in that scrapes political ads, like this for Marjorie Taylor Greene, from Facebook users' feeds to show visitors when the ad ran, its reach, how much it cost and who paid for it 'Today, we disabled the accounts, apps, Pages and platform access associated with NYU's Ad Observatory Project and its operators,' Clark wrote in a post titled 'Research cannot be the justification for compromising people's privacy.' CFD says the plug-in was developed to examine the origin, reach and cost of political ads on Facebook. Using its search capabilities, site visitors can see ads commissioned by politicians like Marjorie Taylor Greene, Jon Ossoff and Donald Trump, even if they never made it into their personal Facebook feed. Once you choose to download the extension 'it copies the ads you see on Facebook and YouTube, so anyone can see them in our public database,' the CFD explained on its website. NYU academics who created a plug-in that scraps info from Facebook users about political ads say the social media site has suspended their personal accounts. But the members of Cybersecurity for America says their Ad Observer extension helps improve ad transparency by showing people how they're targeted by politicians Facebook acknowledged in blocked the accounts of at least three members of Cybersecurity for Democracy because their Ad Observer plug-in violated its terms of service The plug in scrapes the text of the ad, along with any images or links and the advertiser's name, and provides information on when the ad was shown, how much it cost, and information Facebook provides about how and why it was targeted to the user. Cybersecurity for Democracy member Laura Edelson (pictured) said she was one of the NYU researchers suspended from Facebook for launching a plug-in that scrapes accounts for political ads. She said the social media giant 'is silencing us because our work often calls attention to problems on its platform' 'If you want, you can enter basic demographic information about yourself in the tool to help improve our understanding of why advertisers targeted you. However, we'll never ask for information that could identify you.' In a tweet Tuesday evening, CFD's Laura Edelson confirmed Facebook had suspended her personal account and 'the accounts of several people associated with Cybersecurity for Democracy.' 'This has the effect of cutting off our access to Facebook's Ad Library data, as well as Crowdtangle,' Edelson, a PhD engineering student at NYU, said. 'Facebook has also effectively cut off access to more than two dozen other researchers and journalists who get access to Facebook data through our project, including our work measuring vaccine misinformation with the Virality Project and many other partners who rely on our data.' In a May blog post, CFD argued that while Facebook does share some information on ad sources and has pledged to fight disinformation, it doesn't offer full transparency or fact-check political ads. Edelson said their project had uncovered 'systemic flaws in the Facebook Ad Library, that identified misinformation in political ads, 'including many sowing distrust in our election system.'