Disarranged Harmonization of Transparency Reporting by Social Media Platforms Under the Digital Services Act

2026-05-17

AI Summary

This study addresses persistent challenges in the transparency reporting of major social media platforms following the implementation of the Digital Services Act (DSA), including poor data quality, inconsistent formatting, and a lack of interoperability. It presents the first systematic empirical evaluation of DSA-mandated transparency reports from eight leading EU platforms, employing large-scale quantitative analysis and cross-platform structured comparisons across critical dimensions such as content moderation practices, data timeliness, and completeness. The findings reveal widespread issues—including disorganized reporting formats, inconsistent disclosures, and contradictions among enforcement mechanisms—that expose structural gaps in standardized compliance. These results provide crucial empirical evidence to inform improvements in platform accountability and regulatory coordination under the DSA framework.

Abstract

The European Commission recently introduced new regulation to harmonize transparency reporting of large online platforms under the Digital Services Act (DSA). Here, we present the first systematic evaluation of transparency reporting data quality after this normative change, for the eight largest social media platforms in the European Union. In detail, we run a set of large-scale quantitative analyses on key reporting dimensions, followed by a structured comparative assessment across platforms and reporting mechanisms. Among our findings is that: (i) the analyzed platforms had varying degrees of compliance and data quality, but all exhibited issues on data formatting, timeliness, consistency, and completeness; (ii) some platforms employed differing reporting procedures across mechanisms, which caused them to submit contrasting information; (iii) despite the harmonization, a number of issues still prevent interoperability between reporting mechanisms; and (iv) many of the previously identified issues with transparency reporting are still unresolved. We conclude by discussing implications for transparency auditing and proposing key targeted improvements to strengthen the reliability and interoperability of DSA transparency reporting.

Problem

• transparency reporting
• Digital Services Act
• data quality
• interoperability
• social media platforms

Innovation

• transparency reporting
• Digital Services Act
• data quality
• interoperability
• comparative assessment