There’s a growing global movement to ensure that researchers can get access to the huge quantity of data assembled and exploited by digital operators. Momentum is mounting because it’s becoming increasingly evident that data is power. And access to it is the key – for a host of reasons, not least transparency, human rights and electoral integrity.
But there’s currently a massive international asymmetry in access to data. In the European Union and the US, some progress has been made. For example, EU researchers studying risks have a legal right of access.
In the US too, some companies have taken voluntary steps to improve access. The situation is generally very different in the global south. The value of data access can be seen vividly in the monitoring of social media during elections.
South Africa is a case in point. A powerful “big data” analysis was recently published about online attacks on women journalists there, raising the alarm about escalation around – and after – the election on 29 May. A number of groups working with data are attempting to monitor hate speech and disinformation on social media ahead of South Africa’s national and provincial polls.
At a recent workshop involving 10 of these initiatives, participants described trying to detect co-ordinated “information operations” that could harm the election, including via foreign interference. But these researchers can’t get all the data they need because the tech companies don’t give the.