Meta and the Center for Open Science (COS) have been collaborating on a pilot program to share certain Instagram data with a select group of academic researchers to study topics related to social media use and youth well-being. Meta and COS announced this program back in January 2024, and a few weeks ago we opened the Request for Proposals (RFP).
We designed the program with researcher independence and user privacy in mind. COS, along with an academic Editorial Board, will be responsible for reviewing and selecting proposals. Meta will be blind to this process to ensure academic rigor and avoid any conflicts of interest. Researchers will need to recruit their own study participants (or partner with an existing survey) to obtain consent for Meta to share data from their account(s).
To learn more about the pilot program, affiliates can visit cos.io/meta.