Obstacles in Acquiring Data for Research with Societal Advantage: Insights on Overlooked Assets
In the digital age, gaining access to platform data is crucial for research, policy development, and preventing online harms. Here's a look at the key strategies and obstacles in achieving secure and beneficial data access.
Establishing an independent third-party organisation can help ensure that a researcher access framework remains effective, adaptable, and aligned with the evolving nature of online harms and platform technologies. Such organisations can facilitate secure and controlled data access, promote accountability and transparency, and employ privacy-preserving technologies.
However, several obstacles complicate implementation. Legal and ownership complexities, technical barriers, trust and accountability issues, and equity and inclusion challenges are significant hurdles to wide adoption. For instance, obtaining consent for reuse can be costly and difficult, while ensuring secure yet efficient data access requires advanced infrastructure.
To address these challenges, researchers and academics have called for access to platform data, particularly internal, non-public data. They argue that this is essential for studying online harms such as misinformation, disinformation, manipulation, and election interference.
The UK's DUA Bill draft is introducing provisions for independent data access to study online safety matters and amend the Online Safety Act 2023. This bill offers an opportunity to put researcher access to data on a statutory footing, but will need to be complemented by secondary legislation to address obstacles to effective data access.
In the realm of food delivery, concerns about public health and the environment have been raised. Food delivery applications, popular during the COVID-19 pandemic, have been found to offer poor nutritional value, contributing more calories, sugar, and salt, as well as plastic waste and large portions. Transparent nutritional information should be required by law from these platforms.
Researchers can use custom browser extensions or web scraping scripts to collect datasets from companies that withhold important data. However, these methods come with inherent challenges. For instance, researchers at New York University had their social media accounts disabled while collecting data to research misinformation on Facebook.
Social media's power to amplify extremist messages can contribute to real-world violence, as reported by Amnesty International in 2022 regarding Meta's engagement-maximising algorithms in Myanmar. To prevent such incidents, an institutional and procedural layer of governance, such as an independent body to mediate between policy researchers and platform companies, is necessary.
In summary, effective data access that prevents harm and supports research necessitates a combination of strong security controls, privacy-preserving analytics, transparent governance, ethical design, and equitable access. Developing solutions like in-situ data rights and federated learning may help bridge these gaps by enabling secure, privacy-conscious analysis without centralising raw data.
To facilitate educational and self-development opportunities related to the study of online harms and platform technologies, establishment of an independent third-party organisation can offer secure and controlled data access, promoting accountability and transparency, and employing privacy-preserving technologies. Nevertheless, securing beneficial data access faces significant obstacles, such as legal complexities, technical barriers, trust and accountability issues, and equity and inclusion challenges, which call for supportive legislation like the UK's DUA Bill draft.
