The Agency for Communication Networks and Services of the Republic of Slovenia in its role as Digital Services Coordinator, would like to inform the public that the Delegated Act on Data Access under the Digital Services Act (DSA) has entered into force. The Delegated Act allows all researchers and research institutions to benefit from the possibility to access data from very large online platforms (such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, Amazon, Temu and others) or very large search engines (Google, Bing).
Article 40 of the DSA provides the legal basis for vetted researchers. The mechanism aims to study systemic risks that arise on very large online platforms and search engines (Article 34 of the DSA) and the measures taken by the providers of these services to address these risks (Article 35 of the DSA). The present regulation supports independent scientific research carried out on the basis of data from platforms that are not publicly available, thereby helping to create a safe, predictable and trustworthy online environment for all users.
Illustrative examples of research questions that can stimulate research activity in Slovenia:
- What content do algorithms recommend to children and teenagers on social networks and what harmful content are they exposed to?
- How widespread is hate speech on online platforms and what is its impact on the well-being of online users?
- How do platforms protect consumers from online financial scams and how effective are the measures taken?
In order to obtain access to the data, researchers are required to make a thorough and comprehensive access request via the European Commission's Data Access Portal (DSA Data Access Portal), in accordance with the Delegated Act.
Details of the conditions that researchers need to fulfil and the procedure for granting the status can be found here.
