Last week’s elections show how central social media has become to campaigns with politicians on nearly every platform. But as Josephine Lukito and Kaitlyn Dowling explain, we know less and less about them, because access to this data is shrinking.

New essay from the series, Seeing the Digital Sphere: The Case for Public Platform Data! As platforms restrict data access, a global data drought is deepening, write Rachelle Faust and Daniel Arnaudo. A new framework can reclaim the public square and restore access for frontline researchers.

"Society needs a deeper understanding and greater transparency of AI and social media recommendations. We currently lack insights that could be key to uncovering intended or unintended manipulation," writes @marietjeschaake.bsky.social:

Congratulations, Andrew Cuomo! I know how hard you worked for this.

This surge in applications from the US comes at a time where the grant and job market in Europe is already *very* competitive. Unless Europe invests more in science and higher education this influx of talent will put a squeeze on an already fragile system. www.ft.com/content/cd80...

Why is it that every disappeared US citizen is not front page news? At the very least we should have a little box with a count of the number of citizens who have been taken away and are not locatable and a link to a story with photos & min-bios, just as we used to do with military casually figures.

"Access to data by researchers is a crucial element of ensuring transparency and democratic accountability,” @lewan.bsky.social says. “The public is entitled to know what platforms and their algorithms are doing to the information landscape.” I wrote for @science.org about Meta, TikTok and the DSA 🧪

(6) This idea that democrats should abandon trans people and immigrants and climate change (in 2025!) is just unconscionably dumb. Declaring “I’m focused on prescription drug prices” sounds like pandering because it IS pandering. Everyone can tell. Try standing for something. See how it feels.

The @ec.europa.eu preliminarily finds TikTok and Meta in breach of transparency obligations under the Digital Services Act. The EC also finds that Meta and TikTok have put in place "burdensome procedures and tools for researchers to request access to public data." ec.europa.eu/commission/p...

This new reporting from @jeffhorwitz.bsky.social is jaw-dropping and I think warrants a response from @cos.io given their ongoing collaboration with Meta. Jeff writes about how Meta identified content-specific harms as a key problem for teens on Instagram. 🧵 www.reuters.com/business/ins...

New from me and @brendannyhan.bsky.social Why Trump's "Compact for Academic Excellence" is a devil's bargain and should be rejected in all forms www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...

It was incredibly moving to hear Prof Nickel and other non-citizen professors testify in court about the ways in which the arrests and deportations of students had affected them and their colleagues. So grateful to them for their integrity and courage. www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

Very proud of my colleagues right now--especially @ramyakrishnan.bsky.social and @alexabdo.bsky.social. But we could not have got this far without the superb trial lawyers at Sher Tremonte. Grateful to them for all of the time and energy they put into this case. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/30/u...

A cool thing about being with a writer is that I get to post things like "read about my summer holiday in the New York Times!": www.nytimes.com/2025/09/24/t.... But really. I loved exploring this beautiful country and can't wait to go back next month for @disinfo.eu's conference!

Herzlichen Glückwunsch zum Geburtstag, @freiheitsrechte.org! <3

Dear friends from other countries: please join the Brazilians as we celebrate this groundbreaking decision.

What happened today is awful. People who fight against gun violence, people who loathe what Charlie Kirk stood for, must also condemn political violence. It’s a vicious cycle. This is a very dangerous moment.

this is the industry governments want to hand over education and other societal infrastructure www.washingtonpost.com/investigatio...

The wait time for a visa appointment in Colombia, Guatemala, Bangladesh, Nigeria are over 1 year. Among other things, this means people getting notices that they have been accepted to conferences hosted within the same year in the U.S. will not be able to come if they don't have a visa already

"You can say what you like, I don’t care, because that’s what free speech is," Nigel Farage has just told the House Judiciary Committee, about three hours after his party banned me from covering its conference this weekend.

Want a masterclass in corporate capture? Tune in to hear Jim Jordan parrot the talking points of Big Tech, who have effectively duped the US govt into fighting their battles to avoid accountability abroad: judiciary.house.gov/committee-ac...

My colleague Matt Zucker (along with Kendra Albert) wrote on how Trump's attacks put reliable science at risk - gift link share.inquirer.com/RFiRkS - @standupforscience.bsky.social you'll like this one.

“We cannot be subject to the will of a third country.” Extremely strong statement from @teresaribera.ec.europa.eu about Europe's sovereignty - and its need to defend itself to deter bullying. Europe can build its own kit, break dependencies, and target enforcement. It's going to take all of it.

The EU is a market with 450 million people. There is vast public support for regulation of big tech and for companies to meet their responsibilities. Giving in after a decade of efforts in this space is undesirable and unnecessary. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/26/b...

I'm one of the 37 targeted below by DNI Tulsi Gabbard. I haven't had a clearance nor worked in government since 2013. This is political theater & a dangerous example of government abusing its powers to punish private citizens for openly exercising their 1st Amendment rights. My full statement:

Adam Raine, 16, died from suicide in April after months on ChatGPT discussing plans to end his life. His parents have filed the first known case against OpenAI for wrongful death. Overwhelming at times to work on this story, but here it is. My latest on AI chatbots: www.nytimes.com/2025/08/26/t...

Trump "is considering imposing sanctions on European Union or member state officials responsible for implementing the bloc's landmark Digital Services Act, two sources familiar with the matter said, over U.S. complaints that the law censors Americans and imposes costs on U.S. tech companies."

My lab's been attacked by an anti-wind group and their lawyers. They threatened the science funding of my whole university, to shut me and my undergraduate research assistants up. NYT just covered it. 1/n www.nytimes.com/2025/08/25/c...

Listen guys, if you're going to highlight this provision, you might also want to acknowledge the other provisions that require Columbia to restrict teaching, scholarship, and campus protest, and that limit the university's autonomy re admissions and hiring. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/19/u...

How is independent tech research faring in 2025 amidst extraordinary headwinds & what can we do to preserve / grow it? A new report, "Power in Numbers" by @thecoalition.bsky.social summarizes the struggle for public-interest tech research worldwide. independenttechresearch.org/citr-report-...

This is a very important report from @thecoalition.bsky.social on the challenges of technology research: "Across countries, support for public-interest research on technology is rapidly eroding, just as society’s need for it grows more urgent" independenttechresearch.org/citr-report-...

"Building alternative institutions outside of gov. that reduce reliance on the authoritarian regime, lessen its power and relevance over day-to-day life, and preserve sites of independent thought can be vital both in preserving science and in defending democracy." www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

The Columbia settlement is an “astonishing transfer of autonomy and authority to . . . an administration whose disdain for the values of the academy is demonstrated anew every day.” New @knightcolumbia.org analysis of the Columbia settlement, just published. knightcolumbia.org/blog/what-th...

so I am one of the 12 people (including the “god-fathers of AI”) that will be at the Vatican this September for a two full-day working group on the Future of AI here is my Vatican approved short provocation on 'AI and Fraternity' for the working group

"The F.T.C. move is an attempt to tilt the media landscape in favor of the government in ways that are simply un-American. If we want a media that is willing to stand up to government, we need to fight for the right to boycott, not just for ourselves but also for advertisers."

💥NEW💥: Come work with us! Future of Tech Institute is hiring *three* senior advocacy roles to run advocacy with EU institutions, Germany, and France. (Roles in thread) EU: tinyurl.com/5n6awzdw

One of the most crucial pieces of legislation to implement the Digital Services Act came out today: the Delegated Act on data access.The act clarifies the procedures for platforms to share internal, non-public data to vetted researchers digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/d...

Called up @kateconger.com this week to talk about the absolutely wild merger drama at the FTC. There’s an Elon connection. Because of course there is. slate.com/podcasts/wha...

The bipartisan American Science Acceleration Project sounds promising, but "move fast and break things" isn't a strategy for trustworthy research. I write in @science.org about why we need acceleration that opens doors to participation and accountability. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Grant reinstatement NEWS!! NIH staff today were instructed to reinstate ~900 grants the Administration terminated, which the federal court found were illegal last week. Grants will be reinstated to researchers at state universities in 16 Dem states; and who are APHA or UAW member plaintiffs.

This Reviled Pest Is the Unsung Hero of Every Major City in the World www.nytimes.com/2025/06/24/m...

Folks who stand up for and defend democracy and democratic principles and institutions are sometimes faulted for being nostalgic and conservative. I honestly don’t know any “democracy defenders” who don’t believe that all kinds of existing democracies cannot and should not be improved.

Note that courts have already thrown out similar investigations by both Missouri and Texas as an obvious and blatant attack on @mmfa.bsky.social's First Amendment rights.

So your research area has been politicized and your federal funding cancelled, what now? I try to give some answers in this opinion piece for @nature.com 1/ www.nature.com/articles/d41...

There are ways to keep crucial research going https://go.nature.com/3GWY3m3

www.nytimes.com/2025/05/15/b.... Theyre canceling studies on misinformation bc it interferes with people’s 1st amendment rights? First, the studies don’t do that - Even still, lying may be protected speech but to is calling people out for it. @nytimes.com @standupforscience.bsky.social #science

Academic freedom in the Netherlands under pressure. New report from Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences @knaw-nl.bsky.social What is needed: 🚩 stronger freedom of research 🚩 less substantive government influence 🚩 support against intimidation and attacks www.knaw.nl/nieuws/knaw-...

We’re growing, and we want you with us! The Coalition for Independent Technology Research is a global community of researchers demanding transparency and supporting public understanding about the societal impacts of technology. (1/4)

Following the latest cuts to research funding in the US, risks of undetected online activities from foreign influence operations to cybercrime could be higher than ever. Researchers are asked to do more with less. OM is now offering free Pro platform access to those impacted by recent NSF cuts.

This @niemanlab.org story gives more background and concrete examples of revoked disinformation research, fx @katestarbird.bsky.social @lkfazio.bsky.social following the NSF announcement. Defunding disinformation research is very shortsighted in today’s world. www.niemanlab.org/2025/04/nati...