Public Data Access Programs: A First Look
First systematic evaluation of 19 platforms' researcher data-access programs; access varies widely and data quality is poor.
Executive summary
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Using a scorecard of 47 criteria spanning data quality, ease of use, accessibility, terms of use, and privacy and security, this research evaluated the public and researcher data-access programs offered by 19 major platforms as of May 2024, describing itself as the first systematic comparison of its kind.
It found uneven provision across the industry: five platforms (Meta, TikTok, AliExpress, LinkedIn and Google Search) offer formal researcher-access programs, five others provide general APIs usable by researchers, several permit scraping, and a smaller group only accept ad hoc data requests. The study identifies structural problems common across nearly all programs, including limited documentation and visibility, no shared definition of "public data" among platforms, regulators and researchers, and inconsistent guarantees about data reproducibility over time — with most platforms failing to replace functionality lost when Meta's CrowdTangle tool was discontinued.
The report concludes that while some platforms show meaningful commitment to transparency, most researcher data-access programs remain immature and need substantial improvement in documentation, accessibility and comprehensiveness.
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