Assessing risks and progress in digital societies 

The European Union’s Digital Services Act calls on researchers to participate in assessing systemic risks on very large online platforms, such as threats to fundamental rights and public discourse. However, many platforms refuse to grant access to the necessary data. We are therefore exploring an alternative approach: citizens exercise their right to data access on very large platforms, as enshrined in the DSGVO (GDPR), and donate their data so that an internet observatory can be created. Our initial studies show how promising this is.