Our research team retains final authority over the questions we ask, the methods we use, how data is analyzed, what findings mean, and when and how they are published. Funders and partners do not.
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Governance
How we protect research integrity from commercial pressure and funder influence.
Our research team retains final authority over the questions we ask, the methods we use, how data is analyzed, what findings mean, and when and how they are published. Funders and partners do not.
Findings that serve the public interest are published regardless of what they reveal or who they implicate. No funder, partner, or subject of evaluation can suppress, delay, or veto publication.
The tech companies we evaluate are not eligible to serve as board members and we do not take any funding from the apps or companies we evaluate.
Funders contribute resources—nothing more. They do not hold board, advisory, observer, or methodology roles, and they do not receive advance access to findings. Any funder whose products fall within our evaluation scope is automatically recused from evaluations of those products.
We open-source our methodologies, instruments, and analysis code, and—where privacy permits—anonymized datasets. When constraints prevent full transparency, we document the limitation and release the maximum possible.
We obtain informed consent from all participants, with parental consent and youth assent for research involving minors. We collect only what we need, rigorously de-identify data, never monetize it, and honor the right to withdraw.