Large-scale, centrally funded measurement systems on the economy, education, the environment, and public health enable rapid scientific research and support robust policy feedback. They provide frameworks for assessing policy effectiveness, flagging emerging problems, and informing planning processes. The online information environment—a critical domain of human interaction—has not yet been similarly instrumented. This article first reviews key measurements in other domains and outlines why existing tools for studying online environments are insufficient. It then lays out the consequences of the measurement gap, identifies key data-collection tasks, discusses the scale of resources required to meet them, and addresses the implications of generative AI for the instrumentation task. I argue that modest but strategic investments in scaled measurement infrastructure could unlock transformative research capabilities and facilitate an evidence-driven approach to policymaking that could improve how we govern online spaces.
AlfanoMarcoGörlachJoseph-Simon. 2024. Terrorism and education: Evidence from instrumental variables estimators. Journal of Applied Econometrics39 (5): 906–925.
2.
Arenas-ArroyoEstherFernandez-KranzDanielNollenbergerNatalia. 2025. High speed internet and the widening gender gap in adolescent mental health: Evidence from Spanish hospital records. Journal of Health Economics102 (August): 103014.
BakkenInger JohanneAriansenAnja M. S.KnudsenGun PeggyJohansenKnut IvarVollsetStein Emil. 2020. The Norwegian Patient Registry and the Norwegian Registry for Primary Health Care: Research potential of two nationwide health-care registries. Scandinavian Journal of Public Health48 (1): 49–55.
6.
BlasLeonardoLuceriLucaFerraraEmilio. 2024. Unearthing a billion Telegram posts about the 2024 U.S. presidential election: Development of a public dataset. Preprint, arXiv. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2410.23638.
BraghieriLucaLevyRo’eeMakarinAlexey. 2022. Social media and mental health. American Economic Review112 (11): 3660–3693.
9.
BroniatowskiDavid A.SimonsJoseph R.GuJiayanJamisonAmelia M.AbromsLorien C.2023. The efficacy of Facebook’s vaccine misinformation policies and architecture during the COVID-19 pandemic. Science Advances9 (37): eadh2132.
10.
BrownE. Cary. 1955. The static theory of automatic fiscal stabilization. Journal of Political Economy63 (5): 427–440.
Calvet-BademuntJordiMchangamaJacobAnzabiIsabelle. 1April2025. One year later: AI chatbots show progress on free speech—but some concerns remain. Bedrock Principle. Available from www.bedrockprinciple.com.
14.
CardDavid. 2011. Origins of the unemployment rate: The lasting legacy of measurement without theory. American Economic Review101 (3): 552–557.
15.
CunninghamSimoneHudsonChloe C.HarknessKate. 2021. Social media and depression symptoms: A meta-analysis. Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology49 (2): 241–253.
DonatiDanteDuranteRubenSobbrioFrancescoZejcirovicDijana. 2025. Lost in the net? Broadband internet and youth mental health. Journal of Health Economics103 (September): 103017.
18.
DujeancourtErwanGarzMarcel. 2023. The effects of algorithmic content selection on user engagement with news on Twitter. The Information Society: An International Journal39 (5): 263–281.
19.
ElderJeff. 4August2020. Facebook and Twitter are cracking down on videos that promote conspiracy theories and unproven COVID cures, but researchers say that removing already viral misinformation can backfire and make things worse. Business Insider. Available from www.businessinsider.com.
20.
EltisW. A.1975. François Quesnay: A reinterpretation – 1. Thetableau économique. Oxford Economic Papers27 (2): 167–200.
21.
Emergency Unemployment Compensation Act. 1971. Pub. L. No. 92-224.
22.
FarooqAmmarKuglerAdriana D.MuratoriUmberto. 2020. Do unemployment insurance benefits improve match and employer quality? Evidence from recent U.S. recessions. National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper 27574, Cambridge, MA.
23.
FogelRobert WilliamFogelEnid M.GuglielmoMarkGrotteNathaniel. 2013. The early history of the NBER. In Political arithmetic: Simon Kuznets and the empirical tradition in economics. University of Chicago Press.
24.
FreelonDeenMonzerCristinaJeonGayoungMoyCameronWilliamsNatasha. 2024. The post-API age of social media data access: Past, present, and future. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science715:16–37.
25.
GilbertSarahShiltonKatieVitakJessica. 2023. When research is the context: Cross-platform user expectations for social media data reuse. Big Data & Society10 (1): 20539517231164108.
GolinMarta. 2022. The effect of broadband internet on the gender gap in mental health: Evidence from Germany. Health Economics31 (S2): 6–21.
28.
GreeneKevin T.ShapiroJacob N.. 2025. Measuring free expression in generative AI tools. In That violates my policies: AI laws, chatbots, and the future of expression, directed by Jordi Calvet-Bademunt, Jacob Mchangama, and Isabelle Anzabi. The Future of Free Speech, Vanderbilt University. Available from https://futurefreespeech.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/AI-Report-Princeton-Exercise-1.pdf.
29.
GrownCaren. 6March2025. An ode to the Demographic and Health Survey program. Brookings. Available from www.brookings.edu.
30.
HaidtJonathan. 2024a. The anxious generation: How the great rewiring of childhood is causing an epidemic of mental illness. Penguin Press.
31.
HaidtJonathan. 13March2024b. End the phone-based childhood now. The Atlantic. Available from www.theatlantic.com.
32.
HaidtJonathanAllenNick. 2020. Scrutinizing the effects of digital technology on mental health. Nature578 (7794): 226–227.
33.
HancockJeffLiuSunny XunLuoMufanMieczkowskiHannah. 2022. Psychological well-being and social media use: A meta-analysis of associations between social media use and depression, anxiety, loneliness, eudaimonic, hedonic and social well-being. Preprint, SSRN. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4053961.
34.
HardingRobin. 2020. Who is democracy good for? Elections, rural bias, and health and education outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa. Journal of Politics82 (1): 241–254.
35.
HauserPhilip M.1949. The labor force and gainful workers—Concept, measurement, and comparability. American Journal of Sociology54 (4): 338–355.
36.
hiQ Labs, Inc. v. LinkedIn Corp. 2022. 31 F.4th 1180 (9th Cir.).
37.
HowellDavid. 14July2022. The American National Election Studies (ANES) awarded $14 million to study 2024 elections. American National Election Studies. Available from electionstudies.org.
38.
IyerPrithvi. 4August2024. Researchers consider the impact of Meta’s CrowdTangle shutdown. Tech Policy Press. Available from www.techpolicy.press.
39.
KupferschmidtKai. 26September2024. A study found Facebook’s algorithm didn’t promote political polarization. Critics have doubts. ScienceInsider. Available from www.science.org.
40.
KuznetsSimonEpsteinLillianJenksElizabeth. 1941. National income and its composition, 1919–1938, volume I. National Bureau of Economic Research.
41.
LongClarence D.1942. The concept of unemployment. Quarterly Journal of Economics57 (1): 1–30.
42.
Lorenz-SpreenPhilippOswaldLisaLewandowskyStephanHertwigRalph. 2023. A systematic review of worldwide causal and correlational evidence on digital media and democracy. Nature Human Behaviour7 (1): 74–101.
43.
MaiPhilip. 25March2024. A first look at Meta’s new content library and content library API. Social Media Lab at Toronto Metropolitan University. Available from socialmedialab.ca.
44.
MalcomberSimonMartonosiMargaretMooreJames L.IIIMarguliesSusan S.IsernAlexandra R.KnoedlerAlicia J.SharpKendra V.JonesSean L.Craig-HendersonKellina M.GianchandaniErwin. 25October2022. Dear colleague letter: Reproducibility and replicability in science. NSF 23-018. National Science Foundation. Available from www.nsf.gov.
45.
MandileSimona. 2025. The dark side of social media: Recommender algorithms and mental health. CESifo Working Paper 11648, Munich.
46.
McCleanAlecRauschZacharyHaidtJonathan. 2025. The effect of broadband access on mental health: A review of instrumental variable studies. Preprint, SSRN. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5188105.
47.
MillerJackMillsKathryn L.VuorreMattiOrbenAmyPrzybylskiAndrew K.2023. Impact of digital screen media activity on functional brain organization in late childhood: Evidence from the ABCD study. Cortex169 (December): 290–308.
48.
MittsTamarPisharodyNilimaShapiroJacob N.2022. Removal of anti-vaccine content impacts social media discourse. In WebSci ’22: Proceedings of the 14th ACM web science conference 2022. Association for Computing Machinery.
49.
MungerKevinHindmanMattYalcinOmerPhillipsJosephBisbeeJames. 2025. Pressing play on politics: Quantitative description of YouTube. Journal of Quantitative Description: Digital Media5.
50.
MurphyAntoin E.2008. The genesis of macroeconomics: New ideas from Sir William Petty to Henry Thornton. Oxford University Press.
51.
NASEM (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine). 2019. Reproducibility and replicability in science. National Academies Press.
52.
NASEM (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine). 2022. A pragmatic future for NAEP: Containing costs and updating technologies. National Academies Press.
53.
NASEM (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine). 2024. Social media and adolescent health, edited by GaleaSandroBuckleyGillian J.WojtowiczAlexis. National Academies Press.
54.
NiemiecEmilia. 2020. COVID-19 and misinformation: Is censorship of social media a remedy to the spread of medical misinformation?EMBO Reports21 (11): e51420.
55.
NortonSeanShapiroJacob N.1March2024. How to better study—and then improve—today’s corrupted information environment. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Available from thebulletin.org.
OdgersCandice L.JensenMichaeline R.2020. Adolescent mental health in the digital age: Facts, fear, and future directions. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry61 (3): 336–348.
58.
OrbenAmyMatiasJ. Nathan. 2025. Fixing the science of digital technology harms. Science388 (6743): 152–155.
PleningerReginaWarrinnierNele Charlotte A.YonzanNishantGenoniMaria EugeniaLaknerChristoph. 4December2024. The geography of high inequality: Monitoring the World Bank’s new indicator. World Bank Blogs: Data Blog. World Bank Group. Available from blogs.worldbank.org.
61.
RomerChristina D.RomerDavid H.2019. NBER business cycle dating: Retrospect and prospect. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Allied Social Science Associations, 3–5 January 2020. San Diego, CA. Available from https://www.aeaweb.org/conference/2020/preliminary/paper/zSQnRGEA.
SedgwickRosemaryEpsteinSophieDuttaRinaOugrinDennis. 2019. Social media, internet use and suicide attempts in adolescents. Current Opinion in Psychiatry32 (6): 534–541.
64.
SilvermanBrandon. 4May2022. Testimony in Platform transparency: Understanding the impact of social media, before the Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, 117th Cong. Available from https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Silverman%20Testimony.pdf.
65.
SrivastavaPratyaksh. 15March2024. Critics miffed as Meta restricts access to content monitoring tool. NewsBytes. Available from www.newsbytesapp.com.
TwengeJean M.2019. More time on technology, less happiness? Associations between digital-media use and psychological well-being. Current Directions in Psychological Science28 (4): 372–379.
68.
TwengeJean M.HaidtJonathanJoinerThomas E.CampbellW. Keith. 2020. Underestimating digital media harm. Nature Human Behavior4 (4): 346–348.
69.
UC Davis Health. 10May2024. Social media’s impact on our mental health and tips to use it safely. Cultivating Health (blog). Available from health.ucdavis.edu.
ValkenburgPatti M.MeierAdrianBeyensIne. 2022. Social media use and its impact on adolescent mental health: An umbrella review of the evidence. Current Opinion in Psychology44 (April): 58–68.
WanlessAliciaShapiroJacob N.2022. A CERN model for studying the information environment. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Available from carnegieendowment.org.
78.
WellsGeorgiaSeetharamanDeepaHorwitzJeff. 5November2021. Is Facebook bad for you? It is for about 360 million users, company surveys suggest. Wall Street Journal.
79.
WihbeyJohn P.2024. Bridging the news and social media divide: An emerging imperative for democracy. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science715:115–136.
80.
X Corp. v. Bright Data Ltd. 2024. No. 3:23-cv-00077 (N.D. Cal.).
81.
YangYunkangDavisTrevorHindmanMatthew. 2023. Visual misinformation on Facebook. Journal of Communication73 (4): 316–328.
82.
YinXue-Qinde VriesDian A.GentileDouglas A.WangJin-Liang. 2019. Cultural background and measurement of usage moderate the association between social networking sites (SNSs) usage and mental health: A meta-analysis. Social Science Computer Review37 (5): 631–648.
83.
YoonSunkyungKleinmanMaryMertzJessicaBrannickMichael. 2019. Is social network site usage related to depression? A meta-analysis of Facebook–depression relations. Journal of Affective Disorders248 (April 1): 65–72.
