Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, recently announced the shutdown of CrowdTangle, a popular tool used by researchers, watchdog organizations, and journalists to monitor social media posts. This decision, which was made earlier this year and took effect on Wednesday, has been met with protests from researchers and nonprofits who rely on the tool for their work.
In May, a coalition of groups including the Center for Democracy and Technology, the Digital Forensic Research Lab at the Atlantic Council, Human Rights Watch, and NYU’s Center for Social Media & Politics, sent a letter to Meta Platforms requesting that they keep CrowdTangle running until at least January, to ensure its availability during the U.S. presidential elections. The letter emphasized that the shutdown of CrowdTangle would jeopardize essential pre- and post-election oversight mechanisms and undermine Meta’s transparency efforts during a critical period for social trust and digital democracy.
CrowdTangle has been hailed as an essential tool for researchers, helping them navigate the vast amount of information on the platform and identify harmful content and threats. Its loss would leave a significant gap in the ability to understand how disinformation, hate speech, and voter suppression spread on Facebook, undermining civic discourse and democracy, according to a letter sent by the nonprofit Mozilla Foundation in March. The letter, signed by dozens of groups and academic researchers, emphasized that CrowdTangle had become an industry best practice for real-time platform transparency.
In response to the shutdown, Meta Platforms has released an alternative tool called the Meta Content Library. However, access to this tool is currently limited to academic researchers and nonprofits, excluding most news organizations. Critics argue that the Meta Content Library is not as useful as CrowdTangle, at least for now. They have expressed concerns about its functionality and its ability to provide the same level of transparency and insights as its predecessor.
Nick Clegg, Meta’s president of global affairs, addressed these concerns in a recent blog post. He stated that the company has been actively gathering feedback from hundreds of researchers to improve the user-friendliness of the Meta Content Library and ensure that it meets their data needs. While Meta believes that CrowdTangle does not offer a complete picture of what is happening on its platforms, they are confident that their new tools are more comprehensive.
It is important to note that Meta acquired CrowdTangle in 2016, and its decision to shut it down reflects a shift in the company’s approach to transparency and data access. While Meta’s new tools may eventually provide a more comprehensive solution, the immediate impact of shutting down CrowdTangle has raised concerns among researchers, watchdog organizations, and journalists who heavily relied on the tool for their work.
In conclusion, the shutdown of CrowdTangle by Meta Platforms has sparked protests from researchers and nonprofits who see it as a critical loss for transparency and oversight. While Meta has released an alternative tool, the Meta Content Library, its limited access and functionality have been met with criticism. The company is actively working to address these concerns and improve the tool based on feedback from researchers. However, the immediate impact of losing CrowdTangle raises questions about the availability of comprehensive data and insights in monitoring social media platforms.
