Research Opportunities and Challenges of the EU's Digital Services Act
Francesco Pierri, Theo Araujo, Sanne Kruikemeier, Philipp Lorenz-Spreen, Mariek M. P. Vanden Abeele, Laura Vandenbosch, Joana Gon\c{c}alves-Sa, Przemyslaw A. Grabowicz
TL;DR
This paper discusses the opportunities and challenges of the EU's Digital Services Act, focusing on data access for research, and proposes measures to improve transparency and accountability in online platform regulation.
Contribution
It identifies key legal, technical, and organizational barriers in implementing Article 40 of the DSA and suggests practical solutions to enhance research effectiveness.
Findings
Legal and technical barriers hinder data access under Article 40
Proposed measures can improve transparency and accountability
Challenges need to be addressed for effective systemic risk research
Abstract
The Digital Services Act (DSA) introduced by the European Union in 2022 offers a landmark framework for platform transparency, with Article 40 enabling vetted researchers to access data from major online platforms. Yet significant legal, technical, and organizational barriers still hinder effective research on systemic online risks. This piece outlines the key challenges emerging from the Article 40 process and proposes practical measures to ensure that the DSA fulfills its transparency and accountability goals.
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Taxonomy
TopicsCOVID-19 Digital Contact Tracing · Digitalization, Law, and Regulation · Privacy, Security, and Data Protection