The Global Data Divide: A Struggle for Access in the Digital Age
The world is awash in data, a valuable resource generated and hoarded by powerful digital platforms. A growing global movement recognizes the critical importance of accessing this data for research, transparency, human rights, and electoral integrity. However, a stark asymmetry exists between the global north and south, with researchers in developing countries facing significant barriers to accessing the information they need. This disparity creates a knowledge gap, hindering efforts to monitor and mitigate the harms of online disinformation, hate speech, and electoral manipulation.
In the European Union and the United States, some progress has been made in securing data access for researchers. The EU’s Digital Services Act grants vetted researchers the right to request and receive data through platform APIs to investigate systemic risks. In the US, while some companies have taken voluntary steps, the process remains largely controlled by the platforms themselves, often involving selective access grants and limited transparency. For instance, Meta’s program for providing researchers with data during the 2020 US elections faced criticism for its limited scope and lack of publicly available findings.
The situation is drastically different in the global south, where researchers struggle to gain even basic access to data. The case of South Africa highlights these challenges. Ahead of the 2024 elections, researchers attempting to monitor online harms, including hate speech and disinformation, found themselves hampered by the lack of access to crucial data held by social media platforms. These researchers, working to safeguard the integrity of the electoral process, are forced to rely on limited and often expensive data from third-party brokers, or resort to scraping publicly available data, a laborious and legally risky practice. The platforms’ refusal to provide direct access through their APIs severely restricts the researchers’ ability to conduct comprehensive analysis and identify coordinated disinformation campaigns.
This lack of access severely limits researchers’ ability to understand the dynamics of online manipulation and disinformation. They can observe surface-level activity, but are unable to delve into the underlying mechanisms driving these phenomena. For example, researchers monitoring the South African elections could track keywords and hashtags on Twitter and Facebook, but lacked the data to understand how these campaigns originated, how they spread, and the role of platform algorithms in amplifying their reach. Similarly, the encrypted nature of platforms like WhatsApp presents a significant challenge, as researchers are unable to access the metadata that could reveal patterns of coordinated disinformation campaigns.
Several attempts to engage with platforms and advocate for data access have been met with resistance. Invitations for dialogue, requests for human rights impact assessments, and even legal actions based on South Africa’s Promotion of Access to Information Act have been largely ignored or dismissed by the tech companies, who often claim to be outside the jurisdiction of national laws. This lack of engagement underscores the power imbalance between the platforms and researchers, particularly in the global south. The platforms’ control over data effectively grants them the power to dictate the terms of research, limiting independent scrutiny of their operations and their impact on society.
Despite these challenges, efforts to address the data access gap are gaining momentum. Initiatives like the UNESCO Guidelines for the Governance of Digital Platforms and the forthcoming African Alliance for Access to Data are pushing for greater transparency and data sharing. These initiatives aim to establish international norms and frameworks that prioritize the public interest in accessing data for research and accountability. The fight for data access is a crucial battle for ensuring a more equitable and transparent digital landscape, one where researchers in the global south have the tools they need to hold powerful platforms accountable and protect the integrity of democratic processes. The outcome of this struggle will have profound implications for the future of online discourse, human rights, and democratic governance around the world.