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Abstract

In recent years, reports have pointed at the influence of WhatsApp on a variety of outcomes, ranging from elections to collective violence. While academic research should examine the validity of these claims, obtaining WhatsApp data for research is notably challenging, contrasting with the relative abundance (at least until recently) of data from platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, in which the “information diet” of users has been extensively studied. This lack of data is particularly problematic because WhatsApp may be a powerful vehicle for misinformation and hate speech. To help make research on these questions, and more generally research on WhatsApp possible, this paper introduces Whatsapp Explorer, a tool designed to enable WhatsApp data collection on a large scale. We discuss protocols for data collection, including potential sampling approaches, and explain why our tool (and adjoining protocol) arguably allow researchers to collect WhatsApp data in an ethical and legal manner, at scale. Finally, we provide insights from our pilots in India and Brazil, including details on how much data we were able to collect, sampling challenges, and the path forward.

Keywords

Data donation WhatsApp social media misinformation group chats

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Whatsapp Explorer : A data donation tool to facilitate research on WhatsApp

Abstract

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