On 15 May EDMO organised a workshop on the topic of Platform Data Access for Researchers, at the Brussels School of Governance. The workshop (led EUI STG in collaboration with Globsec) took place in hybrid format and was attended by over 50 participants in person and 25 online, including representatives from the EDMO Network, civil society organisations, as well as EC representatives and some VLOP representatives. The workshop aimed to bring together the research community to discuss and share their experience and views on platform data access for research, including newly developed platform APIs, the type of data available and its accessibility, and whether the new research data access provisions under the DSA meet the needs of the research community. Speakers from the research community (including representatives from the EDMO.eu and Vera.ai projects, the Integrity Institute, the Digital Forensic Research Lab, and the Center for Digital Governance, Hertie School) provided key insights and shared concrete experiences with regard to new and old data access tools provided by VLOP and VLOSEs as well as potential opportunities and challenges for research. Given the key role of independent research in enabling transparency and independent oversight and a deeper understanding of the disinformation phenomenon, especially in the context of new technological developments and upcoming elections worldwide, wider data access for research organisations conducting independent research in the public interest remains a key priority for the EDMO community.
In the 2022 Strengthened Code of Practice on Online Disinformation many online platforms explicitly committed to provide access, wherever safe and practicable, to “continuous, real-time or near real-time, searchable stable access to non-personal data and anonymised, aggregated, or manifestly-made public data for research purposes on Disinformation through automated means such as APIs or other open and accessible technical solutions allowing the analysis of said data.” Such voluntary commitment has now become a legal obligation for VLOPs/VLOSEs under DSA article 40(12) which explicitly requires platforms to provide access to publicly accessible data, and when technically possible to real-time data. The Delegated Act on data access which was scheduled to be adopted in spring 2024 has not yet been released. Data access provisions for researchers present a rapidly changing area, with a number of new tools being developed by platforms especially through researcher specific APIs to allow access to researchers to real time data. Yet a number of limitations appear to be currently hindering their use by the research community, including lack of awareness of the new tools, limited access for civil society researchers, complicated or lengthy application procedures and potential legal risks deriving from their use. As a result, the uptake of APIs appears slow and piecemeal, with very few European researchers actively using such APIs at present. Although greater uptake may be expected as the tools continue to be rolled out and refined, as most tools are still being tested it is essential to better understand their utility and how they compare to previous instruments.