Senators announce legislation to ensure transparency at social media platforms

US Sens Chris Coons (D-DE), Rob Portman (R-OH), and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) announced the Platform Accountability and Transparency Act (PATA), a new bipartisan bill that would require social media companies to provide vetted, independent researchers and the public with access to certain platform data. While major social media companies retain granular data on their products’ impact on Americans and our communities, only a small fraction of it is ever made available to the public. Recent events, including the leak of documents as part of the “Facebook Papers,” have underscored the public value of this data and a need for legislation that increases the platforms’ transparency. PATA would meet this need by requiring social media companies to disclose certain internal data and respond to independent research requests following the approval of researchers’ proposals by the National Science Foundation. Researchers would then be able to examine the data and release findings on the platforms’ impact to the public. Throughout the process, the data would be subject to strict protections to guard users’ privacy.