TikTok, X, and Meta are reportedly stonewalling European social media researchers by refusing to provide data access mandated under EU regulations. The non-compliance threatens academic oversight of algorithmic systems and content moderation practices that regulators and researchers depend on to understand platform behavior.
Why it matters: This represents a critical tension between Big Tech's resistance to external scrutiny and Europe's regulatory push for algorithmic transparency—setting a precedent for whether tech giants will comply with data-sharing obligations that affect AI/ML research and policy.