Thread by Joshua Tucker

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📣A Senate Judiciary subcommittee will hold a hearing at 2pm today on platform transparency/understanding the impact of social media.

The conversation about social media data access should start with what questions we want to answer with those data.🧵1/
www.judiciary.senate.gov/meetings/platform-transparency-understanding-the-impact-of-social-media
At @CSMaP_NYU, we've been researching social media and politics for more than a decade. But from the beginning, we've done so with one hand tied behind our backs because social media companies tightly control the data necessary to study the platforms' impact.

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As a result, we have limited understanding of the scale/character/causes of various phenomena attributed to the rise of social media. Instead, we’ve turned to alternative methods (surveys, experiments, scraping) to try to glimpse what internal analysts can easily see.

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Policymakers have introduced several bills to regulate social media (on antitrust, algorithms, kids safety). But unless researchers have access to more social media data, legislators risk operating in the dark.

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csmapnyu.org/news-views/news/how-to-fix-social-media-start-with-independent-research
The conversation about what social media data we need should start with what questions we want to answer with those data. During today's hearing, we hope lawmakers focus on the following areas. @JudiciaryDems @SenJudiciaryGOP @ChrisCoons @SenSasse

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csmapnyu.org/news-views/news/the-social-media-data-we-need-to-answer-key-research-questions
@JudiciaryDems @SenJudiciaryGOP @ChrisCoons @SenSasse 1⃣- how prevalent is misinformation on social media, how often is it viewed, and who shares it? To answer this, we need access to exposure data (what posts appear in people’s timelines) as well as engagement data (what posts people have clicked, shared, liked, etc.)

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@JudiciaryDems @SenJudiciaryGOP @ChrisCoons @SenSasse 2⃣- do recommendation algorithms lead to people being exposed to extremist content or misinformation? To answer this, we need access to recommendation data (what content platforms recommend people view and which accounts, pages, and/or groups they recommend users follow).

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@JudiciaryDems @SenJudiciaryGOP @ChrisCoons @SenSasse 3⃣ - when a user views content, what impact does exposure have on belief in topics such as the legitimacy of democratic institutions or scientific information about covid? To answer this type of causal questions, we need to be able to run randomized control trials.

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@JudiciaryDems @SenJudiciaryGOP @ChrisCoons @SenSasse It's important to note that privacy must also be a central piece of the conversation. There are several ways scholars can and have used social media data for research while preserving privacy.

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@JudiciaryDems @SenJudiciaryGOP @ChrisCoons @SenSasse The online info environment is massive & complex. Studying it requires a robust data infrastructure and cutting-edge methodological innovation. More data is critical to better understand how our new online ecosystem shapes society.

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csmapnyu.org/news-views/news/the-social-media-data-we-need-to-answer-key-research-questions
Thank you to @JudiciaryDems @SenJudiciaryGOP @ChrisCoons @SenSasse for holding this hearing today. We're looking forward to hearing from the witnesses: @brandonsilverm @persily @daphnehk @Jim_Harper @JonHaidt

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www.judiciary.senate.gov/meetings/platform-transparency-understanding-the-impact-of-social-media
@JudiciaryDems @SenJudiciaryGOP @ChrisCoons @SenSasse @brandonsilverm @persily @daphnehk @Jim_Harper @JonHaidt Thank you also to @ChrisCoons @SenAmyKlobuchar & @senrobportman for introducing the bipartisan Platform Accountability and Transparency Act, which would go a long way in securing the data we need to better study social media platforms.

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www.coons.senate.gov/news/press-releases/coons-portman-klobuchar-announce-legislation-to-ensure-trans...
@JudiciaryDems @SenJudiciaryGOP @ChrisCoons @SenSasse @brandonsilverm @persily @daphnehk @Jim_Harper @JonHaidt @SenAmyKlobuchar @senrobportman And thank you to @RepLoriTrahan for introducing the Digital Services Oversight and Safety Act, which would create an Office of Independent Research Facilitation within the FTC.

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trahan.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=2389
@JudiciaryDems @SenJudiciaryGOP @ChrisCoons @SenSasse @brandonsilverm @persily @daphnehk @Jim_Harper @JonHaidt @SenAmyKlobuchar @senrobportman @RepLoriTrahan Read the full letter from me & @Jonathan_Nagler that @CSMaP_NYU submitted to the Senate Judiciary subcommittee outlining the type of research questions we want to answer — and the social media data we need to answer them.

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csmapnyu.org/news-views/news/the-social-media-data-we-need-to-answer-key-research-questions
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