Recent application programming interface (API) restrictions on major social media platforms challenge compliance with the EU Digital Services Act [16], which mandates data access for algorithmic transparency. We develop a structured audit framework to assess the growing misalignment between regulatory requirements and platform implementation. Our comparative analysis of X/Twitter, Reddit, TikTok, and Meta identifies critical “audit blind-spots” where platform content moderation and algorithmic amplification remain inaccessible to independent verification. We extend our analysis to examine all Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs) designated under the DSA and compare regulatory approaches across jurisdictions, including the EU AI Act and the UK Online Safety Act. Through systematic documentary analysis of platform policies, API documentation, regulatory filings, and transparency reports, triangulated with published research on researcher access experiences, our findings reveal an “accountability paradox”: as platforms increasingly rely on AI systems, they simultaneously restrict the capacity for independent oversight. We propose concrete technical and policy interventions aligned with the AI Risk Management Framework of the National Institute of Standards and Technology [54], including privacy-preserving access mechanisms using differential privacy and secure enclaves, federated access models with graduated trust levels, and enhanced regulatory enforcement mechanisms with specific compliance metrics.
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