On February 17, 2024, the EU Digital Services Act (DSA) will come into full effect. Researchers across various fields have eagerly awaited this moment, particularly following the closure of many online platform APIs, which significantly limited their options for accessing data from social media. The DSA is expected to change this situation for the better as it will provide EU researchers with access to high-quality online platform data for research purposes. The DSA comprises a set of rules that regulate the responsibilities of online intermediaries. Article 40 specifically states that researchers can request data from very large online platforms (VLOPs), such as social media sites, online marketplaces, and search engines. Notably, the DSA primarily focuses on researching systemic risks in the EU and researchers applying will have to demonstrate that their work connects to this topic and undergo a vetting process. Many questions of how the DSA will be transferred into practice still remain open.
In our CAIS Special, we will delve into what the DSA means for digitalization researchers. We are thrilled to welcome three expert speakers who will shed light on the changes brought about by the DSA and what they mean for researchers, taking into account the opportunities as well as challenges and limitations that the DSA entails. The three speakers are: Dr. Paddy Leersen from the University of Amsterdam, Dr. Valerie Hase from LMU Munich, and Prof. Dr. Ulrike Klinger from the European New School of Digital Studies.
Paddy Leerssen is a postdoctoral legal researcher at the University of Amsterdam. His work focuses on social media governance, with a particular emphasis on questions of transparency and data access. Paddy is part of the Institute for Information Law (IViR’s) DSA Observatory project, which monitors the implementation of the EU’s new Digital Services Act.
Valerie Hase is a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Media and Communication at LMU Munich. Her research focuses on digital media use and computational methods. In 2023, she initiated a policy project with data donation labs across the globe to develop recommendations for improving data access in light of the DSA.
Ulrike Klinger is Professor for Digital Democracy at European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder). Her research centers on technology, democracy, and political communication, e.g., on the role of social media in election campaigns. Together with Dr. Jakob Ohme from the Weizenbaum Institute in Berlin, she is building the #DSA40 Collaboratory, a network for scholars on questions of data access through the Digital Services Act.
This CAIS Special will be moderated by Johannes Breuer (CAIS & GESIS) und Katrin Weller (GESIS).