Accessing platform data under the EU Digital Services Act

About the tutorial

With the Digital Services Act (DSA), the European Union (EU) has established a set of rules for online platforms and search engines, in particular those with more than 45 million monthly active users - the designated Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs) and Very Large Online Search Engines (VLOSEs). At the centre of these obligations is the need to detect, understand and mitigate systemic risks in the EU, such as the dissemination of illegal content, risks to fundamental rights, negative effects on electoral processes, public health or in relation to gender-based violence, that may result from the design, functioning or usage of these services. Given the complexity of such endeavour, the DSA recognizes the importance of scientific insights and invites researchers to investigate such risks as well as platforms' mitigation measures. To do so, the DSA enables qualified researchers to access the data of VLOPs and VLOSEs, including previously un- or under-disclosed data. This tutorial is aimed at those researchers. The tutorial will briefly introduce the relevant definitions and provisions of the DSA and explain the most important procedural steps to apply for access to non-public platform data. Participants will also discuss how research in the field of machine learning and data science may contribute to the understanding and mitigation of systemic risks and are invited to give feedback on their experience with platforms' existing data access mechanisms for public data.

Tutorial outline

Part I - The DSA and its provisions on data access (~100 minutes)

• Introduction
• The Digital Services Act
• Access to publicly available data

Part II - Access to non-public data (~100 minutes)

• Access to vetted researchers
• Hands-on activity