Dear colleagues, First, a TL;DR: Today's announced CrowdTangle shutdown demonstrates the urgency of gathering systematic evidence that can be shared with the European Commission and other policymakers regarding the efficacy of platform data access programs that are required under Article 40.12 of the Digital Services Act. *Please take and share this survey <https://utexas.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8qqOhoz3tVut3E2>* (jointly launched by IDDP and CITR) to help us understand 1) which of the programs you were aware of (there are a lot!), 2) your experiences applying for access to these programs, and 3) other concerns and considerations*.* *This is relevant to researchers living and working anywhere, not just in Europe.* Now for the full details... By now most of you have probably heard that Meta has announced an end date for CrowdTangle: August 14, 2024. That Meta didn't shut down CrowdTangle earlier, and that they've created a replacement tool--the Meta Content Library (MCL)--is itself a real, if bitter, victory. A victory made possible by the tireless efforts of so many academic researchers and civil society organizations, including many AoIR members. More specifically, after listening to researchers, the European Union introduced Article 40.12 of the DSA, which requires Meta and other very large online platforms and search engines to provide real-time access to public data to academic and civil society researchers. The MCL is Meta's response. Twelve other services run by seven companies have launched data access programs as well <https://iddp.gwu.edu/platform-transparency-tools-brussels-effect>. *However, the MCL is far from perfect. It's certainly nowhere near an adequate replacement for CrowdTangle. And we have real reason to be concerned about the programs that the other companies have established.* With that in mind, George Washington University's Institute for Data, Democracy & Politics and the Coalition for Independent Technology Research have collaborated to launch the *DSA Data Access Audit <https://independenttechresearch.org/introducing-the-dsa-data-access-audit/>* . As a first step, we're fielding a survey <https://utexas.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8qqOhoz3tVut3E2> that's focused on gathering information about 1) people's awareness of all these data access programs, 2) experiences applying for them (or deciding *not* to apply for them), and 3) broader data access concerns you might have. We'll also be conducting interviews and undertaking more traditional audits of the data access programs, but this survey will allow us to gather some initial data to begin informing the Commission, other policymakers, and the public about the current state of affairs. Please take the survey <https://utexas.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8qqOhoz3tVut3E2>. And please share the survey widely. *Regardless of where you live, where you work, or whether or not you’ve applied for access already—if you work with internet data in some way, we'd really value hearing from you.* And if you'd like to know more about all of the data access programs launched to date, IDDP has created a tracker that summarizes all of the (known) requirements for each of the programs <https://iddp.gwu.edu/platform-transparency-tools-brussels-effect>. Rebekah Dr. Rebekah Tromble Director, Institute for Data, Democracy & Politics, George Washington University | Associate Professor, School of Media & Public Affairs, George Washington University | Advisory Board, European Digital Media Observatory | www.rebekahtromble.net iddp.gwu.edu