To be sure, arguments about GDPR and other privacy laws sometimes
appear as pretexts from one or another platform to justify restricting outside
access to data. However, in this environment of legal uncertainty, the platforms
have taken (understandably, from their standpoint, but frustrating from the
research community’s perspective) a very restrictive view in terms of sharing
individual-level data, often regardless of whether the data are anonymized or
could lead to reidentiﬁcation. Moreover, Facebook has said that it will apply
GDPR worldwide, in part because many other governments have either passed
or are considering similar legislation. To address widespread misperceptions
about the chilling effect of GDPR on research, the European Data Protection
Supervisor issued in January 2020 “A Preliminary Opinion on data protection
and scientiﬁc research” (European Data Protection Supervisor 2020). The
guidance also attempts to reinforce the message of the importance of research
Social_Media_and_Democracy