Ranking Member Lofgren Sends Letters to Nine Technology Companies Requesting Access for Mis-and Disinformation Researchers
(San Jose, CA) – Today, Ranking Member Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) sent letters to nine companies who operate search and social media platforms. The letters request that the companies provide data transparency tools to American researchers at least equivalent to those required of Very Large Online Platforms by the European Union. In her letter to Meta, Ranking Member Lofgren requested that the company maintain its data access tool – CrowdTangle – at least through the rest of the year, instead of replacing it with a tool that researchers have deemed less accessible but that is planned to supplant CrowdTangle on August 14.
In her letters, Ranking Member Lofgren said, “People’s online lives are inextricably linked with their overall social, emotional, and physical health, and wellbeing — especially young people. Unfortunately, researchers often have trouble accessing the data they need to study these digital spaces and communities. It is my hope that social media platforms and researchers can reach a mutually agreeable, privacy-protective understanding that allows qualified researchers to access data that furthers our collective understanding of our increasingly online world.”
In her letter to Meta, the Ranking Member added, “Making this change mere months before upcoming elections in the United States, Brazil, and Australia will severely disrupt ongoing research into tracking misinformation and candidate deepfakes on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads. I call on Meta to keep the CrowdTangle tool operational until parity can be reached between the service and [the Meta Content Library].”
All nine letters can be found here.
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