What is public social data?
Public social data is content and metadata that a platform shows without requiring you to be the account owner, public profiles, public posts, viewable counts, and similar. Social Fetch APIs target that class of data, not DMs, private accounts, or private insights.
What public usually covers
Handles, bios, follower counts when shown publicly, public post captions and metrics, public transcripts where available, and search over public content, depending on the route.
Social Fetch documents per-platform coverage under /platforms across 17 networks (137 marketplace ops).
Limits
Private or restricted accounts return documented lookupStatus outcomes where the route supports them. Owner-only insights and messaging stay on official platform APIs with OAuth.
"Public" is not a free pass for every use case. Apply your own legal and policy review against platform terms and local law.
Vs owner-scoped official data
Official kits return data for accounts that authorize your app: publish, insights, ads reporting. Public social data is the other half: enrichment and research over pages anyone can open in a logged-out browser.
Browse free viewers under /tools before you integrate. Production contracts live under /docs/api. For per-network official vs public splits, start at /glossary/does-instagram-have-an-api or the matching platform hub under /platforms.
FAQ
Can I get private Instagram insights?
Not through Social Fetch public routes. Use Meta's APIs with the account's authorization.
What if a profile is private?
Documented routes return a lookupStatus such as private or not_found rather than inventing fields. See /glossary/lookup-status.
Where do I browse coverage?
/platforms lists hubs; /docs/api has schemas; /tools has free browsers.