CrowdTangle is software considered essential for spotting and analyzing misinformation on Facebook and Instagram. But Meta, the parent company of these social networks, announced that it was going to decommission it from August 14, less than three months before the American elections.
The Palo Alto company plans to replace it with a new tool, but researchers say it doesn't have the same functionality. However, for years, and particularly during previous electoral cycles, CrowdTangle has allowed its users to follow in real time the propagation of conspiracy theories, incitements to violence or manipulation campaigns led from abroad.
The removal of the tool is part, according to experts, of the current trend of large digital platforms to reduce transparency. A trend that is all the more worrying as the elections are conducive to the dissemination of false information which harms the democratic process.
“A serious regression”
In a year when elections are taking place in dozens of countries, home to almost half the world's population, "removing access to CrowdTangle will significantly limit independent monitoring of the harm" caused by disinformation, according to Melanie Smith , research director of the Institute for Strategic Dialogue. And added: “This is a serious regression for transparency on social networks. »
Even CrowdTangle's former CEO, Brandon Silverman, criticized the new version of the software still under development: "It's a whole new technology that Meta has yet to build to protect the integrity of elections."
Meta bought CrowdTangle in 2016. The group readily acknowledges that during Louisiana's 2019 elections, the tool helped officials identify false information, such as inaccurate polling station times. And during the 2020 presidential election, Facebook offered the tool to U.S. election officials in every state to help them “quickly identify misinformation, interference, and voter suppression.” Additionally, CrowdTangle offers the public dashboards to track what major candidates post on their official and campaign pages.
The Mozilla Foundation, a global non-profit organization, requested in an open letter to Meta that the service be retained until at least January 2025. "Abandoning CrowdTangle while the content library lacks a "Much of CrowdTangle's core functionality undermines the fundamental principle of transparency" and poses a "direct threat" to the integrity of elections, says the letter signed by dozens of observers and researchers.
In Meta’s crosshairs?
But Meta spokesperson Andy Stone said the letter's claims are "simply false." He assures that the content library will contain "more comprehensive data than CrowdTangle" and will be made available to academics and electoral non-profit organizations.
Another area of concern: Meta, which favors entertainment rather than news and politics on its platforms, will not make this new tool available to for-profit media. In the past, journalists have used CrowdTangle to investigate public health crises, human rights violations and natural disasters.
The decision by the parent company of Facebook and Instagram comes after numerous journalists used CrowdTangle to report information that was unflattering for the company, including its difficulties in moderating content on its platforms and the abundance of pirated games present on its video game application. CrowdTangle made it possible to “hold Meta accountable for enforcing its own rules,” says Tim Harper, political analyst at the Center for Democracy & Technology.
Third-party organizations that participate in Meta's fact-checking program will have access to the content library. But other researchers and nonprofits will have to apply for access or seek costly alternatives.