  In this paper, we engage with and expand on the keynote talk about the Right
to Audit given by Prof. Christian Sandvig at the IC2S2 2021 through a critical
reflection on power asymmetries in the algorithm auditing field. We elaborate
on the challenges and asymmetries mentioned by Sandvig - such as those related
to legal issues and the disparity between early-career and senior researchers.
We also contribute a discussion of the asymmetries that were not covered by
Sandvig but that we find critically important: those related to other
disparities between researchers, incentive structures related to the access to
data from companies, targets of auditing and users and their rights. We also
discuss the implications these asymmetries have for algorithm auditing research
such as the Western-centrism and the lack of the diversity of perspectives.
While we focus on the field of algorithm auditing specifically, we suggest some
of the discussed asymmetries affect Computational Social Science more generally
and need to be reflected on and addressed.
