European researchers say they are struggling to obtain social-media data needed to investigate disinformation, platform harms and political influence, despite EU rules intended to grant vetted academics access. The issue matters because limited access can prevent independent scrutiny of how platforms recommend, monetise or moderate content during major events such as elections.

The article highlights Romania’s 2024 presidential vote, where TikTok content promoting Călin Georgescu was viewed 120 million times before he unexpectedly won 23 percent in the first round; the result was later annulled. Researchers at Maastricht University said TikTok denied their October 2025 API-access request, while TikTok later removed more than 27,000 fake accounts linked to a network promoting Georgescu and his party. Researchers also cite Meta’s closure of CrowdTangle, X’s paid API access, and TikTok limits on daily data collection as barriers to large-scale research.