Meta shuts down CrowdTangle, a tool for tracking online misinformation, researchers worry about lack of visibility before the election

According to the financial news app Zhitong Finance, Meta Platforms (META.US) shut down CrowdTangle on Wednesday. CrowdTangle is a popular social media analysis tool used by journalists, grassroots organizations, and researchers to monitor trending posts on platforms like Facebook and Instagram in real-time.

The timing of this tool's shutdown, just a few months before the U.S. presidential election, has raised concerns among organizations that rely on CrowdTangle to track social media information flow, including viral misinformation that can cause real-world harm. Through CrowdTangle, journalists and researchers can see how many users are engaging with a post, which groups are accelerating the spread of a post, and the frequency of political and medical misinformation spreading on Facebook and Instagram. The decision to shut down CrowdTangle has sparked worries among researchers about the lack of visibility leading up to the U.S. election.

In July of this year, a bipartisan group of lawmakers wrote to Meta's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, requesting a 6-month delay in shutting down CrowdTangle. They pointed out that the company "has a responsibility to ensure that the public, independent researchers, journalists, and policymakers can study and address the impacts of the platform and its algorithms." In a response earlier this week to this letter, Meta stated that they will proceed with shutting down CrowdTangle because the tool is "difficult to maintain" and "cannot provide a representative view of what happens on our platform."

Meta has indicated that they still plan to replace CrowdTangle with the Meta Content Library. The company stated that this new tool will include a broader range of data, such as the ability to analyze comments. Research professionals affiliated with non-profit organizations must apply for access to this content library through a third party and Meta's partner, the University of Michigan's Political and Social Research Cross University Alliance. However, news publishers and other commercially interested groups will not be eligible to use this tool.

Critics have argued that the new tool is insufficient to replace CrowdTangle. An analysis report by Proof News listed 11 features that the Meta Content Library lacks compared to CrowdTangle when used for research, including the ability to view metrics of social media changes over time and dashboard sharing features.

When asked for comments on the shutdown of CrowdTangle, a spokesperson for Meta pointed out that the company announced the new Meta Content Library tool in a blog post last November.

Democratic Senator Chris Coons of Delaware expressed disappointment in Meta's response in a statement, while Republican Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana stated that this "only underscores the need for more oversight and scrutiny of large tech companies."

CrowdTangle was founded in 2011 and quickly gained favor among media clients for its ability to track popular posts on social media platforms. Five years later, Meta acquired the tool, made it free, and expanded its usage to other media outlets Soon, journalists and researchers began using the tool to investigate various topics such as Russia's influence operations, misinformation about the pandemic, and the QAnon conspiracy movement.

The use of the tool by journalists also revealed a high level of engagement by Facebook and Instagram users in incendiary conspiracies. In 2021, Meta's executives clashed over issues of data transparency and how much popular content on social networks should be disclosed. In July of this year, reports emerged that Meta's internal CrowdTangle team was being disbanded. Meta also scrapped other plans, including a $40,000 grant aimed at helping research partners utilize CrowdTangle data to understand public discussions about the pandemic.

Before shutting down CrowdTangle, Meta retained a list of dozens of case studies demonstrating how researchers used the tool to identify Africa-related influence operations or track misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine.

Reports indicate that Meta officially initiated the internal process to shut down CrowdTangle in 2022. The report noted that despite recent statements by company executives that shutting down the tool was necessary as it was "degrading," resources invested in the product had been dwindling. By mid-2022, the Facebook Integrity team in London had fewer than five engineers responsible for maintaining CrowdTangle.

Lawmakers pointed out in a letter to Meta that the platform view provided by the Meta Content Library only makes it difficult for researchers to replicate others' searches or studies. Lawmakers also noted that this constraint "limits researchers' ability to study what is happening on the platform and complicates it." This could make it more difficult for researchers to investigate, for example, the sources and spread of misinformation related to elections on Facebook and Instagram over time.

Fabio Giglietto, Associate Professor of Internet Studies at the University of Urbino Carlo Bo in Italy, expressed disappointment that many researchers are expected to be disappointed by the closure of CrowdTangle. Fabio Giglietto said, "Alternative solutions are not fully ready yet." He cited difficulties encountered when running queries in a virtual environment required to use the tool. He said, "This is particularly frustrating for users who have successfully navigated through overly complex application processes and cumbersome settings."