Viviane Borelli 206 associated with a much more intense involvement of the media in the social processes than before” (Hepp & Couldry, 2020, p. 54). Thus, for the authors, datafication is increasingly prob- lematized today due to its centrality in our lives. In this reflection, I propose to look at the repercussions on our scientific work. When working with data, it is essential to pay attention to the codes, characteristics, pre-configurations, and limitations of the platforms themselves. There are restrictions on APIs (Ap- plication Programming Interfaces) which, oftentimes, are dis- regarded in the presentation of the data collected and in the problematization of what was possible to collect and analyze. Each platform has its own specificities, and it is different to do research with data collected from Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, WhatsApp, Telegram, or TikTok. The concentration of power of a few companies over the flow of information and the lack of transparency of the platforms have been some of the issues reflected by Van Dijck, Poell and De Waal (2018) and Van Dijck (2021, 2022). The authors ex- plain that our lives have been affected by the business strategies of the Big Five – Alphabet, Meta, Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft. To show the functioning and hierarchy of the complex ecosys- tem of platforms, Van Dijck (2022, p.26) used as a metaphor a tree with three interconnected layers: “The roots of digital in- frastructures reach the trunk of intermediary platforms that branch out into industrial and social sectors from which sprout twigs and leaves.” They work in an interdependent and inter- connected way, where at the same time as competitors, there is the phenomenon of coopetition to evade laws and regulatory agencies.Therefore, it is necessary to reflect on complex issues such as access to data (what is allowed to be collected), the configuration of algorithms (interests in algorithmic program- ming), what is implied in our searches using search engines like Google, how information is modulated (Da Silveira, 2019) and pre-formatted for different interests, whether economic, politi- cal or ideological. When problematizing the complexity of circulation activities, which reconfigure strategies of offers and heterogeneities in the forms of appropriation, Fausto Neto (2018, p.23) highlights
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