Philipp Darius

Election research in the age of regulated data access under the EU Digital Services Act In this paper, the authors discuss the implications of regulated data access under the European Digital Services Act for election research.

policyreview.info/articles/ana...

#DSA #DigitalServicesAct #DigitalGovernance #Polcomm #PolSci

@hertieschool.bsky.social @delorsberlin.bsky.social @gesis.org @cais-research.bsky.social

4️⃣ Summarise key challenges and formulate requirements for data access to enable robust and reproducible election research.

3️⃣ Discuss relevant DSA provisions that aim to improve data access for academic research, as well as different data access paths and modalities, including alternatives to APIs such as web scraping and data donations.

2️⃣ Provide a historical overview (see graphic) of how data access modalities have changed over the last two decades of digital platform research. From the digital golden age to the post-API age, and nowadays a potential age of regulated data access (at least in some parts of the world).

1️⃣ Review central research questions and relevant data types for election research from the supply- and demand-side of political communication and politics.

Thanks to my fantastic co-authors @johannesbreuer.com, @meinungsfuehrer.bsky.social, @feloe.bsky.social, @jasminriedl.bsky.social, @sebstier.bsky.social for the collaboration.

In the paper, we:
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Very happy to see this out now! 📃

Coincidentally well timed with the ongoing DSA Observatory Conference in Amsterdam, a new publication titled “Election research in the age of regulated data access under the EU Digital Services Act” has been published in Internet Policy Review today! ✨

🚨 New CampAIgn Tracker + Hiring 3 Research Assistants! 🚨
Together w/ @meinungsfuehrer.bsky.social & colleagues at UvA (@claesdevreese.bsky.social @teresaelena.bsky.social, @nickmattis.bsky.social, @philippdarius.bsky.social), we’re launching a project on GenAI in the 2026 Dutch local elections 🇳🇱

Quick intro to my forthcoming book (CUP, 2026): Through two socio-legal case studies—DSA and the Oversight Board—I trace how public-law ideas are reproduced in both private and regulatory governance for Big Tech, highlighting the promise & pitfalls of this approach. Join at 8:15am EST / 2:15pm CET!

@wiebkedrews.bsky.social @jasminriedl.bsky.social @projekt-sparta.bsky.social

osf.io/preprints/so...

This is a crucial step (and our next step) toward evaluating whether platform algorithms contribute to structural biases and asymmetries in political communication 🛡️ 🇪🇺

API-based behavioural data cannot reveal exposure dynamics or algorithmic amplification. With new data-access mechanisms under the #DSA, there are now pathways to request recommender-system metadata and exposure data.

What remains opaque, however, is the role of recommender systems in shaping these asymmetric political information environments 🌐 ⚙️

We find that parties known for Eurosceptic issue positions and for using highly emotional communication styles were especially successful in generating engagement 📈

Radical populist parties on both ends of the ideological spectrum, but especially on the radical right, received disproportionately high engagement in the form of likes across multiple platforms.

Our analysis based on the #EUDigiParty dataset, covering the activity of all relevant European political parties across five major social media platforms, shows a clear pattern in the run-up to the 2024 European Parliament elections 📊

There is growing debate around #digitalsovereignty, and one essential step toward strengthening democratic sovereignty is to understand how political actors operate and are amplified on major social media platforms, many of which are operated outside of Europe 🇺🇲 🇨🇳

🚨 🚨 🚨
New pre-print is out together with Wiebke Drews, Andreas Neumeier, and Jasmin Riedl on OSF.
( ➡️ link at the end of the 🧵)

#EU2024 #DigitalGovernance #Facebook #Instagram #TikTok #Twitter #X #YouTube

Dies hilft schließlich auch den Unternehmen, die damit kostenlose Unterstützung bekommen ihre Systeme sicherer und besser zu gestalten💡 🦺

Diese ziviligesellschaftlichen Instrumente sollten nun auch verstärkt in #KI-Policy eingesetzt werden, damit Forschende KI-Systeme wie #LLMs systematisch auf Risiken und Biases untersuchen können.

Und schon jetzt ist klar, dass der hashtag#DSA einen neuen regulatorisch vorgeschriebenen Zugang zu Daten für Forschende ermöglicht und somit hoffentlich zu einem besseren Verständnis von Risiken in digitalen Informationsumgebungen beiträgt.

Danke für die Einladung zum #EU to go #Podcast an das Team des Jacques Delors Centre der Hertie School 🙏

Hört und schaut mal rein bei YouTube oder Spotify. Thu Nguyen, Luise Quaritsch und ich sprechen zum Thema: "Musk und Meinungsfreiheit: Wer schützt Europas digitalen Diskurs?"

Neue Podcastaufnahme im Kasten 🎬! Diese Folge mit @luisequaritsch.bsky.social und @philippdarius.bsky.social zum Digital Services Act und wie die EU soziale Medien reguliert und den politischen Diskurs online schützt. Stay tuned!

@delorsberlin.bsky.social

Wie wird auf digitale Plattformen wie #Twitter / X Einfluss genommen? Welche Probleme und Gefahren stellt die Einflussnahme dar? Und wie kann die #EU Mithilfe des #DSA dagegen vorgehen? Dazu referieren @luisequaritsch.bsky.social und @philippdarius.bsky.social vor vollem Haus im Q-Club.

And last but not least, fresh croissants and coffee 🥐 ☕

Hosted by:
@delorsberlin.bsky.social and @hertieschool.bsky.social Centre for Digital Governance

Hey! Join @luisequaritsch.bsky.social and me tomorrow for a morning conversation (and empirical indicators) of Musk's political instrumentalization of X and how to protect Europe's democratic discourse 🛡️ 💬

It also underlines how important the governance of digital information environments is for safeguarding electoral processes and upholding democratic integrity 📩🖥️📊
#DigitalGovernance #DSA #Regulation #Elections #BTW25

Even as platforms adjust their content moderation policies to reflect US political dynamics (and aligning with hashtag#Trump and hashtag#Musk), they remain subject to EU regulations to operate in Europe 💶🖥️🇪🇺 This highlights the urgent need for European and national regulators to enforce the #DSA.

Meanwhile, Mark hashtag#Zuckerberg’s recent pivot at hashtag#Meta, framing content moderation as censorship, raises further questions about the alignment between U.S. tech giants' policies and European democratic values. 🇪🇺🛡️