Meta has been bombarded by academics, researchers, politicians and regulators about a tool called CrowdTangle, which most people probably haven’t heard of. It’s 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 U.S. election, Meta is shutting CrowdTangle down.
“Against this backdrop, Meta decided to kill one of the best tools that civil society had to monitor and report on the hate speech and election interference that is almost certain to proliferate on its platforms,” said Brandi Geurkink, executive director of the Coalition for Independent Technology Research….
CrowdTangle was created by Brandon Silverman and Matt Garmur in 2011, who offered it to digital publishers like BuzzFeed, CNN and Vox. Facebook bought it in 2016 and let researchers and other media partners use it for free. It was the first time a major social network provided a tool to the public to monitor trends in real time.
Researchers and journalists quickly found that it was extremely useful in tracking viral false content, including Russian influence operations, accounts linked to the QAnon conspiracy theory and COVID misinformation.