Meta shuts down misinformation monitoring tool due to concerns about Hebrew moderation
LONDON: Meta has announced that it has shut down CrowdTangle, a tool widely used by researchers, regulators and journalists to monitor social media posts in real time.
The decision comes at a critical time, as new reports reveal that Meta continues to struggle to moderate Hebrew content, just months before the U.S. presidential election.
The shutdown of CrowdTangle, which Meta announced earlier this year, sparked protests from researchers and nonprofits, including the Center for Democracy and Technology, the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab, Human Rights Watch and New York University’s Center for Social Media and Politics.
These organizations urged Meta to delay its closure for six months, arguing that the tool was critical for studying the impact of social media on public discourse.
In a joint letter, they stated that Meta “has a responsibility to ensure that the public, independent researchers, journalists and policymakers can investigate and address the impacts of the platforms and their algorithms.”
Meta responded earlier this week that CrowdTangle was being discontinued because it was “difficult to maintain” and “did not provide a representative picture of what was happening on our platforms.”
The company plans to replace CrowdTangle with the Meta Content Library, a new tool that will provide richer data, including the ability to analyze comments.
However, access to this tool is limited to researchers affiliated with nonprofit organizations, who must submit the application through a third-party provider that partners with Meta.
News publishers and other groups with commercial interests do not have access.
The letter states: “This decision jeopardizes essential pre- and post-election control mechanisms and undermines Meta’s efforts to ensure transparency at this critical stage and at a time when societal trust and digital democracy are frighteningly fragile.”
Meta originally acquired CrowdTangle in 2016 to improve content insights for publishers tracking content across platforms such as X (formerly Twitter), Reddit, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.
Over the years, CrowdTangle has become an important tool for tracking the flow of information on social media, including viral falsehoods that caused real-world harm.
The closure of the service coincides with a new scandal facing Meta. Reports on Thursday revealed that the company continues to struggle to moderate content related to the Israel-Palestine conflict, particularly in Hebrew.
Arab News reported earlier this month that despite recent internal policy changes, Meta’s lack of investment had led to a rise in violent and harmful content, particularly in Hebrew.
A former Meta employee pointed out injustices in Meta’s policies governing hate speech related to Palestine, noting that fear of retaliation for raising concerns about conflict-related content suggests that the company’s priorities “are not in actually making sure the content is safe for the community.”
An internal document revealed that Meta’s policies required the removal of statements such as “Boycott Jewish businesses” and “Boycott Muslim businesses,” but allowed the phrase “Boycott Arab businesses.”
