Resources

Center for Media Engagement | April 2024

Over the past two decades, academic research on digital platforms — such as social media, websites, blog posts, and digitized content — has proliferated. But how do we know if these studies are conducted ethically? And what does it mean to conduct “ethical research” in the context of studying digital platforms?

This report lays out the state of current platform studies ethics, the challenges of building ethical frameworks for this type of research, and potential solutions as proposed by researchers studying digital platforms and research ethics. Interviews with academic researchers emphasize the need for building consensus, ideally through coalitions, and for supporting research infrastructure that prioritizes clear and transparent ethical practices.

What is clear from the findings is that researchers, platform users, companies, politicians, and funders must work together to support ethical research practices that are flexible and yet guided by the shared principles of research for the public and minimizing user harm.

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CAT Lab | March 2024

Independent research that investigates the impact of technology on individuals and society is increasingly under attack. These attacks, which come from powerful entities such as platform companies and policymakers, oen appeal to the public's fears of privacy and ethical violations. While some of these appeals are more credible than others, they have prompted restrictions on independent research by limiting access to essential data, having chilling effects on researchers, and blocking research itself. To make public-interest research resilient to these attacks, we need to understand the threats faced by researchers, actual risks to the public, risk-management practices by researchers, and crucial gaps that need to be filled. Independent research, uninfluenced by the tech industry, investigates digital environments. Independent researchers are academics, civil society actors, journalists, and citizens. Our report is based on interviews with 14 independent researchers outside of academia, focusing on research conducted by civil society organizations, journalists, and community scientists. In this report, we investigate threats and risks to independent research on digital technologies and offer recommendations for managing them.

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