But the playing field for this crucial work is hardly level: as we write, a legal case is going through the US courts in which researchers from the University of Michigan and Northeastern University are challenging the constitutionality of the US government’s interpretation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act that prima facie would block researchers from running fairness tests on how platforms present the world. The defense of earlier reference points to social knowledge and critical social research risks becoming engulfed in the disturbing trend in many countries toward political authoritarianism.

Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, loc. 441