Dear all,

I am reaching out to inform you of an initiative by the European Commission that may be of interest to you.

You may be aware that art. 40 of the Digital Services Act (DSA) provides vetted researchers with access to the data of designated Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs) and Very Large Online Search Engines (VLOSEs). As of today, there are 23 designated VLOPs and 2 designated VLOSEs (*).

The Commission has recently launched a public consultation aimed at gathering insights and perspectives on the development of new rules - through a Delegated Act - that will govern researchers' access to data from online platforms.

The primary objective of this consultation is to ensure that researchers have adequate access to data that will enable them to monitor and analyze systemic risks posed by digital services. These risks are defined in the DSA and include the spread of illegal content, adverse effects on election integrity, and the protection of public health, among others.

The consultation is open to a wide range of stakeholders, including academic researchers. Note that, in the current draft, the "vetted researcher" designation is not limited to people affiliated with academic institutions, but also to other organizations, such as NGOs and non-profits as long as they are a research organisation as defined in Article 2, point (1), of Directive (EU) 2019/790.

I encourage you to share your views and expertise on how such a data access framework should be structured.

Please follow this link to access the consultation document and submit your response: https://europa.eu/!8q9Y9T. Feedback can be sent in any official language of the EU, but the draft is available only in English at the moment.

The deadline for submitting contributions is the 26th of November 2024. After gathering public feedback, the Commission plans to adopt the rules in the first quarter of 2025.

Thank you for considering to participate in the public consultation.

Best regards,

Cristian Consonni

(*): Currently designated VLOPS are Alibaba AliExpress, Amazon Store, Apple AppStore, Booking.com, Facebook, Google Play, Google Maps, Google Shopping, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, PornHub, Shein Snapchat, Stripchat, Temu, TikTok, Wikipedia, X (formerly Twitter), XNXX, XVideos, YouTube and Zalando. Currently designated VLOSEs are Bing and Google Search.

-- Cristian Consonni HUMAINT team European Centre for Algorithmic Transparency

European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC) https://ai-watch.ec.europa.eu/humaint_en https://algorithmic-transparency.ec.europa.eu/index_en The views expressed in this e-mail are personal and may not necessarily reflect those of the European Commission, unless explicitly stated otherwise. This e-mail, and any files transmitted with it, are confidential and intended solely for the individual or entity to whom they are addressed.