Although the contractual agreement between the university and the American company remained confidential, the "Facebook Unrestricted Gift Letter" was made public.

[4][5] Christian Kreiss, a professor at Hochschule Aalen [de], accused the university of becoming an extension of Facebook's marketing arm through this funding arrangement.

Alexander Filipović, a professor of media ethics at the Munich School of Philosophy, expressed concern but stated that he trusted the university.

[6] Chris Köver, in an article on Netzpolitik.org, noted that numerous media outlets, ranging "from Tagesschau to Süddeutsche Zeitung", reported on the company's commitment to AI ethics immediately after Sheryl Sandberg announced the partnership.

Köver argued that Facebook had effectively purchased a relatively inexpensive image campaign within the German media landscape for 6.6 million euros.