Better Access: Data for the Common Good

A Framework for Accessing High-Influence Public Platform Data

Online platforms and services shape what we know, how we connect, and who gets heard. From elections and public health to commerce and conflict, platforms are now indispensable infrastructure for civic life. Their influence is vast, and so is the need to understand them.

As critical conversations publicly unfold on digital platforms, the ability to study these posts and content at scale has steadily diminished. Tools like Facebook’s CrowdTangle – which once offered researchers, journalists, and civil society a window into public online discourse – have disappeared. Meta, Reddit, and X have restricted data access tools that were once widely available, and researchers have faced threats of litigation for accessing public platform data.

Platforms restrict researcher access while public data is increasingly monetized for advertisers,  data brokers, and training artificial intelligence (AI) systems. This imbalance – where companies profit while independent researchers are left in the dark – undermines transparency, limits free expression, and weakens oversight.

That is the reason for developing Better Access, a baseline framework for independent access to public platform data: the content, data, and information posted to platforms that anyone can access. 

Published by the Knight-Georgetown Institute (KGI), this framework is the product of KGI’s Expert Working Group (EWG) on Public Platform Data, a group of leaders from research, civil society, and journalism.

The Better Access Framework

The Better Access framework offers a roadmap for expanding access to high-influence public platform data: the narrow slice of public platform data that has the greatest impact on civic life due to its reach, source, or role in shaping what people see online. 

Public platform data does not all carry the same weight. Some accounts and content have far more influence than others. The Better Access framework focuses on the subset of public posts, accounts, and interactions that matter most for shaping public discourse. 

Better Access defines the kinds of high-influence public platform data that researchers should be able to ethically use in their work. This definition sets a floor, not a ceiling.

What Counts as High-Influence Public Platform Data?

The Better Access framework identifies four categories of high-influence public platform data:

• Highly Disseminated Content: Posts or videos that achieve exceptional reach or engagement, shaping the public agenda.
• Government and Political Accounts: Posts from accounts belonging to elected officials, candidates, political parties, and institutions, which directly influence governance.
• Notable Public Accounts: Content from accounts belonging to celebrities, journalists, civic leaders, or other public figures whose reach gives them outsized influence.
• Business Accounts and Promoted Content: Advertising and commercial messaging, which can sway consumer behavior, public health, or public trust.

Influence Varies by Context

What data is influential varies dramatically across contexts. A viral post in the United States or India will tell us little about online discussion in Angola or Albania. To reflect this, the framework defines three kinds of information environments:

• Global: A platform’s total user base across languages and geographic boundaries.
• Geographic: Users of a platform in a particular geography, including a region.
• Linguistic: Users of a platform engaging in a specific language or languages.

This approach ensures that vital research does not privilege only the largest countries or dominant languages.

How Access Should Work

Data is only useful if it’s accessible and usable. For that reason, the framework articulates three complementary mechanisms that platforms should enable for meaningful data access: a proactive data interface, custom data requests from researchers, and independent data collection. 

• Proactive Data Interface: A structured, platform-supported access mechanism that provides ongoing, predictable access to high-influence public platform data. Examples include research Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), searchable archives, or downloadable datasets that are updated regularly without requiring researchers to make individual requests. 
• Custom Data Requests: Tailored datasets provided upon request to meet the specific local or thematic needs of researchers. These requests may be fulfilled through bespoke datasets, tailored APIs, archives, or other methods.
• Independent Data Collection: Researcher-initiated access to high-influence public platform data, typically through automated collection such as scraping or crawling. This mode of access preserves researcher independence and enables validation of platform-provided data. 

Together, these mechanisms ensure flexibility, relevance, and accountability across diverse research settings.

The Way Forward

The stakes could not be clearer: when independent access to high-influence public platform data disappears, so does society’s ability to understand and protect itself.

The Better Access framework provides a clear path forward, offering a critical roadmap to ensure independent access to this crucial data that provides a window into what information is shaping the digital sphere and public discourse. 

By beginning with the four categories of high-influence public platform data and supporting consistent, ethical access through multiple mechanisms and across diverse information environments, platforms and policymakers can restore transparency and accountability to digital research. A uniform, cross-industry approach will also enable platforms, regulators, and researchers to build the foundations for a healthier digital public square – one where societies can see clearly, understand deeply, and engage meaningfully.

Links
Download the Report
Better Access Four-Pager Brief

Tech Policy Press–KGI Series:
“Seeing the Digital Sphere: The Case for Public Platform Data”