US Senators announce new social media legislation

A new legislation called the “Platform Accountability and Transparency Act” would compel social media groups to share their data with “qualified researchers” affiliated with a university and pursuing a project endorsed by the National Science Foundation. The legislation “is a truly comprehensive platform transparency proposal… This legislation would provide a real pathway for researchers to better understand online harms and start coming up with solutions,” says Laura Edelson, co-founder of Cybersecurity for Democracy, member of the NYU Center for Cybersecurity, and current Ph.D. candidate in computer science at NYU Tandon.