Meta shut down the CrowdTangle tool, although researchers petitioned the company to keep it running until January 2025.
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Justin Sullivan/Getty Images North America
Meta has been bombarded by academics, researchers, politicians and regulators about a tool called CrowdTangle, which most people have not heard of. It has been used to investigate the spread of violence, political disinformation and false narratives on Facebook and Instagram.
On Wednesday, less than three months before the US election, Meta shut down CrowdTangle.
“Against this background, Meta has decided to shut down one of the best tools that civil society has to monitor and report on the hate speech and election interference that will almost certainly develop on the platform,” said Brandi Geurkink, executive director of the Coalition for Technology Research. Independent.
More than 50,000 people have signed up letter and request urging Meta to put an end to his planor at least wait six months, according to the Mozilla Foundation.
Regulators, including the European Commission and a a bipartisan group of US senators and members of Congresssaid shuttering CrowdTangle now could be risky – given how useful it has been for researchers to identify security threats and misinformation, especially around elections.
Meta’s new tools are more limited
CrowdTangle has provided researchers and journalists with insights into how Facebook and Instagram’s algorithms work and how fake information goes viral. However, over the past few years, Meta has started limiting the tool and stopped accepting new users.
A spokeswoman for Meta declined to comment on CrowdTangle’s shutdown, but referred NPR to it post a blog about a new tool called Meta Content Library. The company says the Content Library is more comprehensive and provides a better overview of what’s happening on the platform.
Nick Clegg, Meta’s president of global affairs to Axios he hopes people will see the Content Library as “an excellent faith effort,” one that can “lead to new and interesting research.”
Meta requires researchers to be able to access the Content Library and must be from a “qualified academic or non-profit institution pursuing research of scientific or public interest.” Access this far more limited than what Meta offers with CrowdTangle.
Hundreds of researchers, including Geurkink, say the Content Library is “not enough.” He said he welcomes improvements to the new tool, but “doesn’t fill the hole left by CrowdTangle.”
Researchers mourn the loss of CrowdTangle
CrowdTangle exists created by Brandon Silverman and Matt Garmur in 2011which offers to digital publishers like BuzzFeed, CNN and Vox. Facebook bought it in 2016 and allows researchers and other media partners to use it for free. It was the first major social network provide tools to the public to monitor trends in real time.
Researchers and journalists quickly discovered that it was very useful to track viral fake content, including Russian influence operationaccount linked to QAnon conspiracy theory and Wrong information about COVID.
Over the years, CrowdTangle has been used by hundreds of academics, journalists, and other companies, covering topics including how The Islamic State has maintained social media accounts for best practices for comedians on Facebook.
The Coalition for Independent Technology Research published a website on Tuesday called “RIP CrowdTangle,” which will remind you of the work done with the tool. Other researchers and watchdogs are also concerned about the loss of CrowdTangle.
“Shuttering this critical tool is another brazen blow to transparency on its platform,” the Real Facebook Oversight Board, a coalition of academics and civil rights groups, said in a statement. “RIP Crowdtangle.”
