Ahead of the critical 2024 elections, Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has revealed intentions to decommission CrowdTangle, a critical digital tool for detecting disinformation on social media networks. Researchers, journalists, and non-profit groups are deeply concerned about this move because they believe it will make it more difficult for them to keep an eye on and report on the dissemination of false narratives and disinformation at a time when democracy is crucial everywhere.
Real-time transparency into the spread of political disinformation, hate speech, and conspiracy theories across Meta-owned platforms has been made possible in large part by CrowdTangle. The tool’s powers have been especially useful in the last several election cycles, as it has assisted in identifying detrimental behaviours such as internet abuse, foreign intervention, and incitements to violence. The Meta Content Library, which CrowdTangle’s successor is set to replace, has come under fire for not having some crucial features, which casts questions on how well it can protect election integrity.
The decision to phase down CrowdTangle is part of a larger trend in the internet sector to reduce security and transparency. This measure, according to critics, may significantly curtail independent supervision of social media platforms at a time when elections are anticipated to be attended by over half of the world’s population. The Institute for Strategic Dialogue’s Melanie Smith, Director of Research, stressed that blocking access to CrowdTangle is a “serious setback for social media platform transparency.”
The Mozilla Foundation, ninety other organizations, and the previous CEO of CrowdTangle, Brandon Silverman, wrote an open letter to Meta in reaction to their statement, requesting that CrowdTangle remain accessible until at least the 2024 elections. The letter makes the case that CrowdTangle’s closure may have a major effect on academics’ capacity to monitor misinformation, thus jeopardizing the democratic process.
The decision has drawn skepticism, even though Meta spokesman Andy Stone has assured that the Content Library would have “more comprehensive data than CrowdTangle” and be accessible to academics and non-profit election integrity specialists. The clearance process for the new tool and its inaccessibility to for-profit media further exacerbate worries over the viability of independent journalism and research on social media platforms.
There has been much discussion over how to strike a balance between platform accountability and the need for data security and privacy since CrowdTangle was decommissioned and moved to the Meta Content Library. The conflict between these goals as the 2024 elections get near highlights the difficulties social media behemoths have in their attempts to thwart disinformation while guaranteeing free and transparent access to information for individuals defending the integrity of democratic processes.
