Internet Research Ethics in the Platform Society: Theoretical Reflections, Research Experiences, and Open Questions

Since the late 1990s, Internet Research Ethics (IRE) has emerged as a burgeoning field, fueled by an ever-growing variety of ethical challenges and concerns. Since then, the societal and technological landscape has changed and expanded: platforms such as social media and apps aggregate a significant number of users, generating new social, cultural, and media practices to study. In this context, Research Ethics (RE) has had both a problematic and nonetheless highly important role. In this special issue, we examine how research ethics can be applied to the ever-changing digital platform environment. This topic is consistent with the tradition of the journal and its attention to the research on media and its context. The aim is to make a useful collection of research experiences as well as theoretical reflections that can serve as a guide and reference in the academic community.