Journalists, researchers, and politicians
are mourning Meta’s shutdown of CrowdTangle, which they used to track the spread of disinformation on Facebook and Instagram.
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.” Many researchers and academics, and most journalists, are barred from accessing the tool.
Those who have been using the Meta Content Library say it is less transparent and accessible, has fewer features, and has a worse user experience design.
Many people in the community have written open letters to Meta in protest. They question why the company axed a useful tool for combating misinformation three months ahead of the most contentious U.S. election in history – an election that is already threatened by the proliferation of AI deep fakes and chatbot misinformation, some of which has come from Meta’s own chatbot – and replace it with a tool that academics say is simply not as effective?
In short, if it ain’t broke, why fix it?
Meta hasn’t provided many answers. At an MIT Technology Review conference in May, Meta’s president of global affairs Nick Clegg was asked why the company wouldn’t wait to shut down CrowdTangle until after the election. He called CrowdTangle a “degrading tool” that doesn’t provide complete and accurate insights into what’s happening on Facebook.
“It only measures a narrow cake slice of a cake slice, which is particular forms of engagement,” said Clegg at the time. “It literally doesn’t tell you what people are seeing online.”
Leave a Reply