The Supreme Court will soon consider two social media cases out of Florida and Texas. Although the primary focus of the litigation is content moderation, the laws also contain provisions seeking greater transparency from the platforms, which have implications for social science research. CSMaP filed an amicus brief in the case to emphasize: 1.) The importance of independent platform research 2.) How data access will help researchers, the public, and policymakers better understand the way platforms influence public discourse and democracy. Thank you to Darren Linvill, Patrick Warren, and Filippo Menczer for joining the brief, and to New York University School of Law's Technology Law and Policy Clinic for helping us write it.
