WHAT’S THIS SESSION ABOUT?
Social media data can be valuable for many kinds of research, yet getting access has become increasingly confusing. APIs have changed, platform policies vary widely, and even publicly visible content can raise legal, ethical, and documentation questions. What is feasible today may not be feasible tomorrow. At the same time, the EU Digital Services Act (DSA) introduces new access pathways for research on certain very large online platforms, leaving many researchers wondering what this means for them.
This Data Snack offers a high-level, non-technical overview of the current social media data access landscape in 2026. We will sketch how access routes have evolved until today, unpack recurring obstacles such as changing platform rules, unstable access options, and challenges around documentation and reproducibility. The session then situates the EU DSA within this broader landscape: what it is, for whom it matters, and under what conditions it may enable research access for certain social media platforms. Finally, we will discuss what researchers can do when the DSA is not relevant to their case, and end with a short checklist and an invitation to exchange experiences and questions across disciplines.
WHERE AND WHEN?
The session will take place from 1:00 to 1:30pm via Zoom. There will be a 15-20 minute presentation followed by an open forum for questions and discussion. The slides will be shared afterwards. We look forward to exciting discussions!
Zoom Link: https://uni-bremen.zoom-x.de/j/61666538039?pwd=JZTcc15FcsrZwedVYuMoVuhp3sPLCF.1
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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Dr. Susanne de Vogel is a data scientist for training and consulting at the DSC. She holds a PhD in Sociology from the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg (2019). Her competencies lie in survey design, pre-processing and analysis of quantitative data, statistical programming in R, and management of sensitive research data.