The case for open data access to aid tech regulation

"In this article, we discuss three potential data access pathways researchers could use to study TikTok in the U.S.—the company’s Researcher API, individual users’ data “takeouts,” and online scraping—highlighting the challenges of each approach. Taken together, this analysis aims to emphasize current challenges for researchers studying social platforms, how a lack of research can lead to under-informed policy debates, and what can be done to provide better, open data access for researchers to answer pressing questions about platforms like TikTok and for policymakers pursuing new legislation...."