Data Access for Research: Policy Paper on Art. 40 of the Digital Services Act
With the Digital Services Act (DSA), the EU has established a framework for accessing data from major online platforms for research purposes. In order to implement it effecticely, platform researchers have published a policy paper titled “What the Scientific Community Needs from Data Access under Art. 40 DSA.”
Social media have a great influence on our lives, but they also harbor risks. Researching them is essential to address systemic risks like misinformation or hate speech. Such research demands access to the data of large online platforms that is both transparent and of high quality, with manageable means of retrieval. However, up to now, there has been no legal foundation for this, a gap that has been addressed for the first time through the introduction of the Digital Services Act (DSA). The latter is now set to be further detailed within the Delegated Act by the European Commission and subsequently integrated into national legislation.
This process presents an opportunity to establish a framework conducive to independent research and improved data quality, enabling the comprehensive exploration of pertinent facets of digitalization. Consequently, it contributes to fostering a fair and equitable digital public sphere. The authors, Jakob Ohme and Ulrike Klinger, have formulated 20 specific points aimed at informing both the legislative processes on EU and national levels from the perspective of platform researchers. This is crucial because the exploration of systemic risks relies on the expertise of academic contributors. In total, approximately 70 scholars and platform researchers from various disciplines were involved in the development of this paper.
You can find the policy paper here.
Signatories of the policy paper:
- Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society, Berlin
- European New School, Europa-Universität Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder)
- AlgorithmWatch
- Center for Advanced Internet Studies (CAIS)
- D64 - Zentrum für Digitalen Fortschritt
- Democracy Reporting International (DRI)
- GESIS Leibniz-Institut für Sozialwissenschaften e.V.
- Stiftung Neue Verantwortung (SNV)
- Ulrike Klinger – Professorin, European New School, Europa-Universität Viadrina, Frankfurt/Oder
- Jakob Ohme – Research Group Lead, Weizenbaum Institut, Berlin
- Alexander Wehde – Student Assistant, Forschungsstelle für Rechtsfragen neuer Technologien sowie Datenrecht (ForTech) e.V.
- Andrea Lorenz – Research Associate, Universität Hamburg
- Christoph Neuberger – Scientific Managing Director & Principal Investigator, Weizenbaum Institute, Berlin; Professor, Freie Universität Berlin
- Christian Strippel – Research Group Lead, Weizenbaum Institute
- Daniela Stockmann – Professor, Center for Digital Governance, Hertie School, Berlin
- Erik Tuchtfeld – Research Associate, Max-Planck-Institut für ausländisches öffentliches Recht und Völkerrecht, Heidelberg
- Jan-Hendrik Passoth – Professor, European New School, Europa-Universität Viadrina
- Johannes Breuer – Senior Researcher, GESIS - Leibniz-Institut für Sozialwissenschaften & Center for Advanced Internet Studies (CAIS)
- Judith Möller – Professor, Leibniz-Institut für Medienforschung | HBI; Universität Hamburg
- Julia Niemann-Lenz – Senior Research Associate, Universität Hamburg
- Katharina Kaesling – JProfessor, Technische Universität Dresden
- Katharina Kleinen-von Königslöw – Professor, Universität Hamburg
- Katrin Weller – Senior Researcher, GESIS Leibniz-Institut für Sozialwissenschaften
- Marie-Therese Sekwenz, PhD Candidate, TU Delft/ Technology Policy and Management/ AI Futures Lab
- Mario Haim – Professor, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, München
- Matthias C. Kettemann – Professor, Universität Innsbruck, Alexander von Humboldt-Institut für Internet und Gesellschaft, Leibniz-Institut für Medienforschung | HBI
- Matthias Spielkamp – Co-founder and Executive Director, AlgorithmWatch
- Mia Berg – Research Associate, Ruhr-Universität Bochum
- Michael Meyer-Resende – Co-founder & Executive Director, Democracy Reporting International (DRI), Berlin
- Philipp Darius – Postdoctoral Researcher, Center for Digital Governance, Hertie School, Berlin
- Philipp Lorenz-Spreen – Research Scientist, Max-Planck-Institut für Bildungsforschung, Berlin
- Pia Sombetzki – Policy & Advocacy Manager, AlgorithmWatch
- Richard Kuchta – Analyst and Researcher, Democracy Reporting International
- Simon Munzert – Professor, Data Science Lab, Hertie School, Berlin
- Sonja Schimmler – Research Group Lead, Weizenbaum Institute
- Valerie Hase – Postdoctoral Researcher, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München