[Air-L] DSA Data Access Audit and Survey

[Tromble, Rebekah]

 Dear colleagues,

First, a TL;DR: Today's announced CrowdTangle shutdown demonstrates the
urgency of gathering systematic evidence that can be shared with the
European Commission and other policymakers regarding the efficacy of
platform data access programs that are required under Article 40.12 of the
Digital Services Act. *Please take and share this survey
<https://utexas.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8qqOhoz3tVut3E2>* (jointly
launched by IDDP and CITR) to help us understand 1) which of the programs
you were aware of (there are a lot!), 2) your experiences applying for
access to these programs, and 3) other concerns and considerations*.* *This
is relevant to researchers living and working anywhere, not just in Europe.*

Now for the full details...

By now most of you have probably heard that Meta has announced an end date
for CrowdTangle: August 14, 2024.

That Meta didn't shut down CrowdTangle earlier, and that they've created a
replacement tool--the Meta Content Library (MCL)--is itself a real, if
bitter, victory. A victory made possible by the tireless efforts of so many
academic researchers and civil society organizations, including many AoIR
members.

More specifically, after listening to researchers, the European Union
introduced Article 40.12 of the DSA, which requires Meta and other very
large online platforms and search engines to provide real-time access to
public data to academic and civil society researchers. The MCL is Meta's
response. Twelve other services run by seven companies have launched data
access programs as well
<https://iddp.gwu.edu/platform-transparency-tools-brussels-effect>.

*However, the MCL is far from perfect. It's certainly nowhere near an
adequate replacement for CrowdTangle. And we have real reason to be
concerned about the programs that the other companies have established.*

With that in mind, George Washington University's Institute for Data,
Democracy & Politics and the Coalition for Independent Technology Research
have collaborated to launch the *DSA Data Access Audit
<https://independenttechresearch.org/introducing-the-dsa-data-access-audit/>*
.

As a first step, we're fielding a survey
<https://utexas.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8qqOhoz3tVut3E2> that's focused
on gathering information about 1) people's awareness of all these data
access programs, 2) experiences applying for them (or deciding *not* to
apply for them), and 3) broader data access concerns you might have. We'll
also be conducting interviews and undertaking more traditional audits of
the data access programs, but this survey will allow us to gather some
initial data to begin informing the Commission, other policymakers, and the
public about the current state of affairs.

Please take the survey
<https://utexas.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8qqOhoz3tVut3E2>. And please
share the survey widely.  *Regardless of where you live, where you work, or
whether or not you’ve applied for access already—if you work with internet
data in some way, we'd really value hearing from you.*

And if you'd like to know more about all of the data access programs
launched to date, IDDP has created a tracker that summarizes all of the
(known) requirements for each of the programs
<https://iddp.gwu.edu/platform-transparency-tools-brussels-effect>.

Rebekah

Dr. Rebekah Tromble
Director, Institute for Data, Democracy & Politics, George Washington
University |
Associate Professor, School of Media & Public Affairs, George Washington
University |
Advisory Board, European Digital Media Observatory |
www.rebekahtromble.net
iddp.gwu.edu