DSA researcher data access is still blocked by platform gatekeeping

DSA researcher data access was supposed to give vetted academics a way to inspect the social platforms that shape elections, political speech and online harms. Researchers told WIRED that TikTok, X and Meta still make that work difficult through denials, quotas, security demands, inconsistent forms and, in some cases, litigation.

The dispute matters for the technology industry because the EU’s Digital Services Act is becoming the main test of whether large platforms can be forced to expose operational data without turning transparency into a compliance theater. The law lets approved researchers at credible institutions seek API access when their work examines systemic risks such as illegal content, threats to fundamental rights and recommender systems.

Romania’s 2024 presidential election has become a case study. In the weeks before the vote, TikTok accounts that had previously focused on topics such as fashion and manicures began promoting Calin Georgescu, a little-known politician. His posts, which included hard-line immigration views and anti-Semitic tropes, were viewed 120 million times before he won the first round with 23 percent of the vote after previously polling in single digits.

Adriana Iamnitchi, chair of computational social sciences at Maastricht University, sought TikTok API access with her team to study how pro-Georgescu material was being monetized through hidden influencer marketing and livestreamed political content. TikTok denied the request, saying the team had not shown it qualified as established researchers, explained commercial interests or met security requirements, according to Iamnitchi’s blog post.

TikTok later said it had flagged 116,000 accounts as potentially compromised and acted against more than 27,000 fake accounts in a coordinated network tied to a third-party “fake engagement vendor” promoting Georgescu and the Alliance for the Union of Romanians. TikTok said it did not know who ran the network or where it came from.

Why are researchers struggling to get platform data under the DSA?

Researchers say the issue is no longer only whether EU law grants access, but how platforms interpret and implement it. Application systems vary by company, some security requirements are hard for universities to meet, and platforms can define systemic risk narrowly enough to reject requests.

Tooling is also a constraint. Meta shut down CrowdTangle and replaced it with the Meta Content Library and API, while X put API data behind paid access, according to researchers cited by WIRED. TikTok caps usage, and Duncan Allen of Democracy Reporting International said that limit can make large-scale research impossible.

The DSA40 Collaboratory, a German initiative tracking 46 DSA applications, found 20 approvals and 14 rejections. Its data shows uneven outcomes by platform: TikTok approved 11 of 13 tracked applications, while X rejected 11 of 23. L. K. Seiling, the project’s coordinator, told WIRED the real rejection rate is probably higher because the tracker depends on voluntary reports.

Company responses show the gap between platform compliance claims and researcher experience. TikTok told WIRED it has given more than 1,500 research teams access to its tools, approved 130 EU applications in the second half of last year and allows up to 1,000 API requests a day, which it said can yield up to 100,000 video and comment records or 2 million follower records. Meta said its Content Library and API are its most comprehensive research tools to date and cover Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp Channels and Threads with privacy protections.

X has faced the most direct enforcement pressure. Democracy Reporting International and the Society for Civil Rights sued after X rejected a request to study political discourse before Germany’s federal election, and a court ruled X should have granted access. The European Commission later fined X €120 million, or $137 million, partly for creating unnecessary barriers to researcher access. X appealed, calling the investigation incomplete and alleging due process violations.

The Commission has since accepted X’s plan to change researcher screening, provide data without charge, shorten processing times and lift scraping limits. X has six months to implement those measures. Allen called the plan a step in the right direction but said the company still needs to specify how vetting will improve.

EU officials are also working on a new vetting standard after saying Meta and TikTok may have used burdensome procedures and tools that left researchers with partial or unreliable data. Late last year, the Commission expanded access to nonpublic platform data for studies of risks including illegal content, financial scams and recommender systems. Researchers told WIRED those rules have not yet been tested, but they could make follower-network analysis more useful for studying coordinated campaigns.

This story draws on original reporting from Ars Technica.