What the Scientific Community Needs from Data Access under Art. 40 DSA: 20 Points on Infrastructures, Participation, Transparency, and Funding

Abstract

Article 40 of the Digital Services Act (DSA) creates for the first time a clear regulation that grants science independence from individual platforms and improved data quality, thus ensuring that socially relevant aspects of digitization can be investigated appropriately, consistently, and independently. It makes it possible to respond more quickly and accurately to new issues and developments in an evidence-based manner, thus contributing to a fair, digital public sphere that considers societal risks and opportunities. This policy paper aims to inform the expected Delegated Act of the EU Commission as well as the legislative process for the German Digital Services Act (Digitale Dienste Ge-setz) and to formulate necessities from the perspective of platform researchers. This perspective is of utmost importance, as research on systemic risks depends on the expertise of scientific actors.