The CoCoDa project brings together technical and legal expertise to investigate systemic risks in society arising from dominant online platforms, and to determine solutions. Over the next 4 years, the University of St. Gallen, the University of Lausanne, Maastricht University and the Open Data Institute will collaborate on research and building networks towards this goal.
Very large online platforms (VLOPs) create a range of systemic risks in society. Examples include the sharing of hateful or misleading content, creation of ‘filter bubbles’ and breaches of privacy. That said, examining the veracity and extent of these claims has been obstructed due to researchers having insufficient access to test out these claims on data held by VLOPS.
In this new 4-year research project, we aim to help create the necessary researcher access and generate accountability on dominant online platforms. We named the project after the high Concentration of Control and Data (CoCoDa) by these platforms, which is at the heart of the systemic risks we are targeting. The project is funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation.
Bringing together legal and technical expertise to unite these different solutions is essential. As a hub of interdisciplinary expertise, our project aims to ensure that effective computational methods can be applied with a legal mandate. Additionally, we aim to ensure that policy interventions do not ignore the practical and technical demands of researcher access - including ease of access to the right kinds of information, and dilemmas about protection of privacy. We are looking to contribute effective, cutting edge approaches to data access challenges, and will be seeking opportunities to collaborate with others towards this goal.
Learn more about the project by reading our launch blog and following our LinkedIn page - and be in touch at [email protected] if you are interested in collaborating on the project.
