Meta Shuts CrowdTangle, A Key Tool For Tracking Disinformation

Meta has shut down CrowdTangle, a tool extensively used by researchers, watchdog organisations, and journalists to monitor social media posts, especially for tracking the spread of misinformation on its platforms.

The shutdown, announced earlier this year by Meta, took effect on Wednesday and has sparked criticism from researchers and nonprofits.

CrowdTangle has been a crucial tool for researchers, enabling them to sift through the immense volume of information on the platform and identify harmful content and threats.

In March, the nonprofit Mozilla Foundation sent a similar letter to Meta, urging them to keep the tool, which was freely accessible, operational until January.

In CrowdTangle’s place, Meta is offering its Content Library — but is limiting usage to people from “qualified academic or nonprofit institutions who are pursuing scientific or public interest research.”

At a MIT Technology Review conference in May, Meta’s global affairs president Nick Clegg had defended the decision by calling it a "degrading tool" that fails to provide complete and accurate insights into Facebook activity.