Data, human subjects, and research ethics in transformative contexts

The researchers increasingly scrape internet and social media data to study individuals’ digital interactions, collective frames, and networked practices in data activism. Indeed, political contexts can, and sometimes do, change dramatically after data scraping. Imagine this scenario: researchers carefully evaluate the potential risks when scraping and repurposing publicly accessible social media posts about a peaceful protest. Months later, a sudden political shift occurs. State authorities deploy AI surveillance systems to retrospectively flag these posts, turning them into evidence against activists. How can researchers responsibly anticipate and navigate the ethical dilemmas arising when previously benign data collection abruptly becomes contentious? How should researchers operationalize the concept of harm in this evolving political context?