Data access under the DSA – subjective right and jurisdiction of German courts
X (formerly Twitter) unlawfully refused Democracy Reporting International (DRI) access to public platform data for research purposes. Hausfeld, together with the Society for Civil Rights (Gesellschaft für Freiheitsrechte, “GFF”), challenged this refusal and obtained a landmark ruling before the Berlin Court of Appeal.
DRI is a non-profit organisation based in Berlin that conducts research on democratic discourse in Europe. DRI requested access to public platform data to investigate systemic risks associated with X in the context of the Hungarian parliamentary elections, such as foreign interference and the activities of bot networks. Under the Digital Services Act (DSA), major platform operators such as X are required to provide researchers with access to public platform data via an API to enable them to investigate such risks. Nevertheless, X initially denied DRI access.
Together with the GFF, Hausfeld challenged this refusal and obtained a landmark ruling by the Berlin Court of Appeal. The final judgement confirms that DRI was entitled to the requested data access, and that German courts had jurisdiction to decide the matter. This clarifies that the DSA confers an individual right to data access for research purposes and that German based researchers can enforce this right in Germany.
The court's decision makes the transparency obligations imposed on platform operators under the DSA effectively enforceable, thereby strengthening European digital regulation and democratic civil society.
