EU's Landmark Platform Transparency Law Is Failing the Researchers It Was Written to Help

EU's Landmark Platform Transparency Law Is Failing the Researchers It Was Written to Help

Adriana Iamnitchi, chair of computational social sciences at Maastricht University, wanted to trace how coordinated accounts were monetizing pro-Georgescu content through hidden influencer marketing and livestreamed political promotions. TikTok denied the request, claiming she had not proven her team were established researchers, had not explained their commercial interests, and had not met the platform's security requirements 1.

The DSA, which became applicable to large platforms in February 2024 and was broadened the following year to expand researcher access, was supposed to close exactly this kind of blind spot. Vetted researchers at credible institutions gained legal rights to platform data for studying systemic risks, from disinformation campaigns to threats against fundamental rights. On paper, the mandate has teeth. In practice, TikTok, X, and Meta have built a compliance architecture that honors the DSA's letter while stripping its data of practical value.

A law that works on paper

Most platforms require researchers to store retrieved data on air-gapped machines physically disconnected from the internet, infrastructure that most universities do not operate 1. Application criteria vary by platform, and each company applies its own narrow reading of what qualifies as a systemic risk worth investigating.

Even researchers who clear those hurdles cannot reliably verify their findings. API data is frequently impossible for a second researcher to reproduce, which means a study's results cannot be checked for errors, a standard Iamnitchi described as a basic requirement of science 1.

TikTok caps researcher accounts at 1,000 API requests per day, which Duncan Allen, a research officer at Democracy Reporting International in Germany, said makes large-scale study effectively impossible 1.

What the numbers show

The DSA40 Collaboratory, a German initiative tracking DSA data-access applications, has logged 46 requests across platforms. Of those, 20 were approved and 14 rejected. The variance between platforms is stark: TikTok approved 11 of 13 applications, while X rejected 11 of 23 1.

Coordinator L. K. Seiling said the true rejection rate is probably higher because the tracker relies on voluntary reporting. The system as designed, Seiling said, "tries to disincentivize researchers" 1.

Platform responses follow a familiar template. TikTok told WIRED it has given more than 1,500 research teams access to its tools and approved 130 EU applications in the second half of 2025, adding that it considers its research tools compliant with the DSA but "would welcome further public guidance." A Meta spokesperson said the Meta Content Library and API that replaced CrowdTangle are the company's "most comprehensive research tools to date," covering Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp Channels, and Threads 1.

Win the case, lose the next election

When negotiations fail, researchers turn to the courts. Democracy Reporting International and the Society for Civil Rights applied for X's API in April 2024 to study political discourse ahead of Germany's federal election. X rejected the request in November, prompting DRI to sue in February 2025. A court ruled that X should have granted access 1.

Then X denied DRI access again for research ahead of Hungary's election. A Berlin court initially told the researchers to file in Ireland, where X is headquartered. DRI won on appeal, but the legal cycle consumed months 1.

A court ruling compels one access decision. Nothing in the DSA's enforcement framework prevents a platform from denying the next application.

The information that disappeared

Declassified Romanian intelligence later showed that Georgescu had "benefited" from massive exposure and preferential treatment on TikTok, and that Russia had allegedly coordinated the online campaign to elect him 1. Iamnitchi believes her team could have identified who built and profited from the network if TikTok had granted access when she asked.

The DSA gives researchers the right to request data. It provides no mechanism to ensure that data arrives before the democratic event it was meant to inform. As EU member states and the United States head into major elections in 2026, coordinated manipulation networks will surface after the fact, as they did in Romania. The result is that researchers study the last election while the next one is already under attack.