DSA Data Access Tutorial UMAP 2025

About the Tutorial

The Digital Services Act (DSA) establishes a regulatory framework for online platforms and search engines in the European Union, focusing on mitigating systemic risks such as illegal content dissemination, fundamental rights violations, and impacts on electoral processes, public health, and gender-based violence. Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs) and Very Large Search Engines (VLOSEs), defined as those with over 45 million active recipients, must provide data access for research to enable investigations into these risks and the development of solutions. This tutorial is tailored for the UMAP community, addressing the implications of the DSA for user modelling research. It will cover the DSA's key provisions and definitions, outline the procedural steps for accessing VLOP and VLOSE data, and discuss the technical aspects of data access requests. Participants will also explore the challenges and opportunities involved in working with this data. By the end of the tutorial, attendees will have a thorough understanding of the DSA's data access provisions, the technical and procedural requirements for accessing VLOP and VLOSE data, and the regulation's implications for user modelling research. They will be equipped to navigate the complexities of the DSA and contribute to the development of responsible and transparent online platforms.

Target Audience

The main audience of the tutorial are researchers interested in conducting scientific work on systemic risks in the EU with online platform data, particularly those within the UMAP community and the broader field of user modelling. Our tutorial warmly welcomes researchers, practitioners, and professionals with varying levels of experience, from beginners to experts, as well as industry technologists. No specific prerequisites are required to participate in this tutorial, and the content is structured to be accessible to a diverse audience, including those new to the user modelling field. The tutorial is also of interest to an interdisciplinary audience, as the concepts and applications illustrated touch a range of fields. The tutorial will provide participating researchers with the necessary knowledge to plan and execute their research projects involving access to platform data under the DSA, including relating research questions to systemic risks, choosing the correct type of data access, proposing safeguards to data protection, privacy and confidentiality, and drafting a data access request.

Tentative Structure

This tutorial will take place between 16th and 19th June 2025 at the 33rd ACM Conference on User Modeling, Adaptation and Personalization (UMAP 2025).

The intended length is 90 minutes. Here is an overview of the tutorial structure (but the following outline might be modified):

Duration	Content
45 mins	Part I: The DSA and the Data Access Provisions
	Introduction (5 mins) Tutorial background, motivation, objectives, and relevance to UMAP community.
	The Digital Services Act (5 mins) Objectives of the DSA; Definitions and stakeholders; Definition of systemic risks.
	Access to Publicly Available Data (10 mins) Eligibility; Application process; Technical means to access publicly available data.
	Access to Private Data by Vetted Researchers (25 mins) Data access request workflow; Eligibility and research team; Project description and duration; Evaluation and amendments; Technical means to access data; Data protection, privacy and confidentiality; Publication of results.
45 mins	Part II: Impact of DSA on User Modelling Research
	Mapping Research Questions to Systemic Risks (25 mins) How the DSA's identified systemic risks can be connected to user modelling research questions; How the DSA's data access provisions can facilitate investigation of these questions.
	Interactive Q&A and Discussion (20 mins) Open discussion about opportunities, challenges and future research directions.