Auditing Social Media Platforms: Public, Non-Public, and Alternative Data Access Methods under the DSA & GDPR for Public Interest Research

  • Workshop
  • Music Room
  • Thursday 22.05 — 17:20 - 18:40

Organising Institution

University of Lausanne

Switzerland

The Legal Design & Code Lab at the University of Lausanne (UNIL) is on a mission to advance interdisciplinary research, legal innovation, and public interest technology to strengthen access to justice, AI and platform governance, and citizen empowerment. We leverage integrated and interdisciplinary approaches to ensure that automation, data use, and algorithmic systems serve the public good. We are an inherently interdisciplinary research hub that brings together scholars and practitioners interested in the intersection of law, technology, and design. Within our research and community activities, we aim to foster collaborations both within UNIL and with external partners.
This workshop explores how official and alternative data access methods—provided by platforms and those developed independently by researchers and civil society—can be combined to audit systemic risks on very large online platforms. Participants will compare research APIs and transparency tools available under the Digital Services Act (DSA) with alternative approaches such as sockpuppet audits, analyzing strengths and limitations of each. Through scenario-based simulations and interactive group role-play exercises, attendees will collaboratively design and debate audit strategies while confronting challenges like API restrictions, access barriers, platform compliance tactics, and legal uncertainties. Participants will gain hands-on experience with the SOAP (System for Observing and Analyzing Posts) tool, learning to simulate user interactions and collect algorithmic recommendation data. Throughout the session, ethical and legal considerations surrounding data collection and usage will be explored, equipping participants with practical skills to independently audit platform practices

Host

Konrad Kollnig

Maastricht University - Netherlands

Konrad Kollnig is assistant professor at the Law & Tech Lab of Maastricht University’s Law Faculty. He particularly focuses on the future of AI regulation (in leading the RegTech4AI project with 5 researchers), holding online platforms to account (in the co-leading the CoCoDa project across the UK, Switzerland and the EU) and building a more resilient digital infrastructure (in his latest book).

Host

Simon Mayer

University of St. Gallen - Switzerland

Simon Mayer is a Full Professor in Computer Science at the University of St. Gallen (HSG). He is fascinated by the integration of concepts and approaches from across the fields of pervasive computing, hypermedia, human-computer interaction, and embedded systems to realize ideal interfaces between machines and animals.