NY Senate introduces bill to mandate open API access for social media platforms
I don&#x27;t think this is reasonable or even in users interest if they stop and think about it.<p>I don&#x27;t want social media platforms to be required by law to turn over all of the data that they have collected on me to anyone who asks.<p>EDIT:<p>So in section 2.A.3, anything that could be publicly visible to third parties is now accessible to those thirds parties via API. Anything you privately shared with third parties is now accessible to them via API. Your public comments, likes, friends ect. Alternatively, your private messages can be exported via API if the recipient gives permission.<p>&gt;2.  A  SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM MUST PROVIDE THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION TO
 ITS CURRENT USERS OR THEIR AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVES  THROUGH  THE  API
 CONSISTENT WITH SUBDIVISION ONE OF THIS SECTION:
   (A)  THE USER&#x27;S PERSONAL DATA THAT THE SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM CONTROLS,
 INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION:
...
 (III)  THIRD-PARTY DATA WHICH IS EITHER (A) GENERALLY AVAILABLE TO ALL
 ACCOUNT HOLDERS, OR (B) MADE AVAILABLE TO THE USER BY THE ACTION OF THAT
 THIRD PARTY, AND WHICH IS COLLECTED BY THE SOCIAL MEDIA COMPANY TO  MAKE
 CONTENT DECISIONS THAT DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY IMPACT A USER<p>It is hard to believe I am reading section 3.A correct, but this would also require the social media company to update their database at the request of the API user. pretty wild.<p>&gt;3. A SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM MUST PROVIDE ACCESS THROUGH THE API  NECES-
 SARY  TO ALLOW THIRD-PARTY APPLICATIONS ON BEHALF OF ANY CURRENT USER TO
 WRITE, UPDATE OR TAKE ACTION ON:
   (A) THE USER&#x27;S PERSONAL DATA THAT THE SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM  CONTROLS,
 INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION:
   (I) DATA THAT IS GENERALLY AVAILABLE TO ALL ACCOUNT HOLDERS, INCLUDING
 USER&#x27;S NAME, USERNAME OR HANDLE, PROFILE PHOTO, BIO, AND LOCATION;
   (II)  USER  DATA  AND  DATA  GENERATED  BY A USER AND COLLECTED BY THE
 SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM THAT FORMS THE BASIS FOR  SOCIAL  RECOMMENDATIONS,
 INCLUDING  USER  FOLLOWS  AND FOLLOWER DATA, AS WELL AS THE TOPICS USERS
 MAY FOLLOW;<p>So in theory, anyone could make an API request to reddit and it would have to turn over all public information on the site, at no cost.