Evaluating Platform Compliance for Impactful Insights
An increasing number of projects make use of Data Download Packages (DDPs). Applications range from generating insights in social and life sciences to empowering data-based solutions furthering the common good. Whether a research question can be addressed with a data donation study partly depends on the relevant platforms’ adherence and implementation of the legally required data access to consumers. To mobilize individuals to donate their data, substantial efforts are needed. To justify these efforts, it is necessary to evaluate the DDPs provided by data-controlling platforms, to consider the feasibility, scalability, and impact potential of data donations in the given context. The present work pursues two goals: 1.) Creating a structured framework of practical considerations relevant to evaluating DDPs. 2.) Sharing the results of evaluations investigating several platforms’ (non-)compliance with designated laws and their adherence to the standards of conciseness, accessibility, completeness, and transparency. Other researchers engaged in data donation studies have collected such insights related to DDPs from social media platforms (e.g. Instagram: Van Driel et al., 2022). This presentation supplies evaluations for two more use cases: user data from the language learning platform Duolingo, and loyalty card data from different supermarkets in Germany (e.g., EDEKA). While the content and structure of DDPs may change and evolve over time, these evaluations offer a snapshot of the current situation and highlight potentially worthwhile characteristics. By compiling these insights, this presentation endeavors to offer orientation and enable impactful data donation initiatives in the future.
Leonie Manzke, Philipp Hartl