(Originally published by Lawfare on July 11, 2022) 

Transparency is essential to getting every other part of platform regulation right. But defining sound transparency rules—identifying what information is needed most from platforms like Twitter or YouTube, and how to get it—is quite complicated. In a Senate hearing this spring, one of us testified about these complexities. This post builds on that congressional testimony. Its substantive points are relevant to EU regulators and U.S. state lawmakers currently considering transparency legislation, in addition to members of Congress.

New legal models for platform transparency can be found in laws like the EU’s Digital Services Act and proposals like the draft Platform Accountability and Transparency Act and the Digital Services Oversight and Safety Act in the U.S. Collectively, these models set forth multiple transparency measures, each serving different purposes.

(Continue reading the opinion essay on Lawfare’s page here.)