Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has shut down CrowdTangle, a tool extensively used by researchers, watchdog organisations, and journalists to monitor social media posts, particularly to trace the spread of disinformation on the company’s platforms.
CrowdTangle’s shutdown, which Meta announced earlier this year, provoked objections from a variety of parties.
Newsng gathered that Organisations including the Centre for Democracy and Technology, the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab, Human Rights Watch, and NYU’s Centre for Social Media & Politics wrote to Meta in May, urging them to keep the tool operational at least until January to cover the US presidential elections.
“This decision jeopardizes essential pre- and post-election oversight mechanisms and undermines Meta’s transparency efforts during this critical period, and at a time when social trust and digital democracy are alarmingly fragile,” the letter said.
CrowdTangle, “has been an essential tool in helping researchers parse through the vast amount of information on the platform and identify harmful content and threats,” it added.
Meta is replacing CrowdTangle with its Content Library, but it is only available to those from “qualified academic or nonprofit institutions who are pursuing scientific or public interest research.” Many researchers, professors, and journalists are prevented from using the instrument.
Those who have used the Meta Content Library report that it is less visible and accessible has fewer functions, and has a poor user experience design.
We earlier reported that Polish billionaire Rafal Brzoska and his wife are intending to sue Meta for running bogus adverts on Facebook and Instagram carrying false information about them.
