Final end: CrowdTangle analysis tool is switched off
The CrowdTangle analysis tool is history: Meta has shut down the service. There had previously been resistance: the successor service excludes many.
CrowdTangle allowed users to keep an eye on several services. However, the tool is now history.
(Image: mundissima/Shutterstock.com)
Meta shut down its CrowdTangle analysis tool for good on Wednesday. The company is thus implementing an announcement that had caused quite a stir. CrowdTangle not only provided analyses of current topic trends across various social networks. It also helped journalists, for example, to gain an overview of topics that were relevant in various social networks. This not only made it possible to find trends in social networks, but also to derive approaches for the influence of certain social trends or individual actors.
The Meta Content Library is intended to replace CrowdTangle, Meta explained. On the CrowdTangle page, the company also points out the shutdown. "Meta Content Library and Content Library API, provide useful, high-quality data to researchers", emphasizes Meta. "Meta Content Library was designed to help us meet new regulatory requirements for data-sharing and transparency while meeting Meta’s rigorous privacy and security standards."
Protests against shutdown unsuccessful
Users criticize the successor for offering fewer functions and less information. Another drastic change is that the Meta Content Library grants access to research teams after an application, but excludes media companies, which in most cases are not likely to meet the non-profit requirements for access. Numerous institutions have written to Meta in an open letter to delay the shutdown until early 2025, so that use would still be possible in the super election year of 2024.
There is also criticism of the timing of the shutdown: the US presidential elections are coming up. CrowdTangle could be used to track down thematic trends, for example. Back in April, the EU Commission criticized the date of the shutdown considering the upcoming European Parliament elections. The discontinuation of the service therefore became part of a formal procedure under the Digital Services Act (DSA). The guidelines for gatekeeper platforms on systemic risks to electoral processes emphasize that access to such tools should be expanded, especially regarding real-time election monitoring.
The Commission feared that the discontinuation of the service could affect "social discourse and electoral processes". By this, it means, for example, "the ability to track misinformation and disinformation", "influence voters" and "suppress information".
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