Mathias VermeulenX has - rather quietly - rolled out a new way to provide researchers access to public data on X, as required per article 40.12 of the Digital Services Act. How can you do get access? See the thread below 👇#dsa (1/9)
If you scroll down X's developer's platform site you can fill in a form 2/9) #dsa
This brings you to the application form (a google doc) which is pretty much in sync with similar forms that I analysed (new paper on this topic coming soon-ish btw) #dsa (3/9) https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdo0O-D6Kxa3cV4g1JLz2T_0Sk3hdEnTdv8dJmibagCnzJ7kg/viewform&followup=https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdo0O-D6Kxa3cV4g1JLz2T_0Sk3hdEnTdv8dJmibagCnzJ7kg/viewform<mpl=forms&authuser=0
However,there are some notable elements in the application form. In order to determine whether researchers are "independent from commercial interests" (as required by article 40.8.b) X asks information about a much broader category of affiliated entities to assess an application (4/9) #dsa
X also asks to disclose direct "and indirect" sources of funding (5/9). #dsa
There hasn't been a formal announcement or blog post to announce this change as far as I know. X did adapt its Developer Terms two weeks ago, as reported for instance by TechCrunch (6/9) https://techcrunch.com/2023/11/17/change-in-xs-terms-indicate-eu-researchers-will-get-api-access/ #dsa
I don't know anyone at this point who has applied or has successfully obtained access, under which conditions. The 12 VLOPs (Meta, YouTube, TikTok, Linkedin etc) which currently offer a researcher API all do this for free. I expect this offer to be free as well. (7/9) #dsa