Social Media Scraping in 2026 — What's Legal, What Works, What Doesn't

What Works

• Bluesky: Open AT Protocol, fully legal (tool)
• Reddit: Public JSON API (tool)
• YouTube: Innertube API, public data (tool)
• HN: Firebase + Algolia APIs (tool)

Legal Framework

HiQ v. LinkedIn: scraping public data is legal in the US.
GDPR: personal data has restrictions in EU.

All tools: GitHub

Custom social data — $20: Payoneer