The Mozilla Foundation and 90+ research and advocacy groups urge Meta to keep CrowdTangle online until January 2025 to track election misinformation globally
Meta had already said it would retire CrowdTangle in August and replace it with a Content Library limited to academic and nonprofit researchers rather than news outlets, a shift detailed in Meta’s planned CrowdTangle replacement. The coalition’s request puts the timing of that access change—not just the tool’s future—at the center of election-period scrutiny.
The request foreshadowed a broader fight over whether the replacement was ready: Meta later added election safety features to CrowdTangle amid EU concerns, while US lawmakers separately sought a longer delay over limitations they saw in the Content Library.
First-order effects
Meta faces coordinated pressure from research and advocacy organizations to preserve researchers’ existing visibility into public platform activity through the global election period.
Researchers, civil-society monitors, and news organizations dependent on CrowdTangle face uncertainty over continuity of monitoring if Meta proceeds on its announced schedule, since the proposed replacement has a narrower stated user base.
Second-order effects
The request raises the operational and reputational stakes for Meta’s migration to the Content Library: its access rules, functionality, and election-readiness become the practical test of whether the shutdown is defensible.
Election authorities and policymakers gain a concrete basis to scrutinize platform transparency commitments, particularly as Meta had already adjusted CrowdTangle for EU-election use.
Third-order effects
If widely used public-interest monitoring tools are replaced by more restricted research systems, independent oversight of major platforms may increasingly depend on platform-controlled access programs rather than tools available to journalists and broader watchdog groups.
The episode points toward election-integrity transparency becoming a policy issue in its own right: pressure may focus less on whether platforms publish data and more on who can use it, when, and under what conditions.
The trend: Platform governance is shifting from broadly accessible monitoring tools toward controlled research-data access, making the terms of access central to accountability during elections.
Sorry, which claims are wrong? I don't see any claims that those groups can't apply for access. I see claims that the new tool is missing a lot of important functionality and that very few groups actually have access right now.
Two things stand out to me: first, being qualified to apply for something is a far cry from actually having access. What are the terms? How fast is the turnaround time? We're also 1/3 of the way through the year already...how many election groups have access right now? …
And FWIW, personally, I think the Content Library has the potential to be wwwaaayyy better than CrowdTangle! It's really exciting! But it has a long way to go on the functionality side (as well as a few other places) and I think that's why so many people are worried.
These claims from Mozilla are just wrong. Here are the facts: 1) The Meta Content Library is designed to contain more comprehensive data than CrowdTangle (for instance, comments as a data type are coming in April).
Independent research is hugely important every year, but particularly in massive election years like 2024. Meta's proposed replacement for Crowdtangle is insufficient for the type of research and monitoring work needed over the coming months.
Translated from French by Google: Meta's decision to remove CrowdTangle, the only tool to measure - in part - what is happening on Facebook, is a huge middle finger to researchers, journalists, and transparency.
See here, PR lesson. Facebook spokesperson (Stone) and company has near zero credibility at this point based on prior behaviors. An ex-employee (Silverman) is now questioning his statement. Facebook should be responding with data/receipts. It's not. Fail. https://x.com/...
.@Meta has just announced it will cease use of its transparency tool CrowdTangle late this year, leaving no equal safeguards in place to help stem disinformation and harassment online. With over 90 partners, led by @mozilla, we demand #Meta to reconsider: https://foundation.mozil…
Wow, this is an impressive list. In my opinion, the groups on here represent the exact types of civil society organizations with deep local expertise & knowledge that large platforms need to be working with *more*...not turning their backs on. https://foundation.mozilla.org/ ...
Over half the world's population will go to the polls this year, & @Meta has decided to abandon its election integrity tool CrowdTangle, with no equal support in place for elections experts. Along with over 90 partners, we're asking them to reconsider: https://foundation.mozilla.…