Crowd control: Losing Metas transparency tool poses a threat to democracy

The document criticizes Meta for shutting down CrowdTangle, a free tool used to track viral content and misinformation on Facebook and Instagram. It highlights how this closure hinders the ability to monitor climate disinformation during COP events and threats to election security. The text notes a broader trend of restricted data access by social media companies, including X, and mentions the EU Commission's concerns regarding compliance with the Digital Services Act (DSA). It specifically emphasizes the negative impact on researchers in the Global South and the need for permanent regulations to ensure real-time access to public data.

• The closure of CrowdTangle is viewed as a significant obstacle to research, with 88% of researchers surveyed by the Coalition for Independent Technology Research fearing it would hinder their work, potentially leading to the revision or termination of projects.
• CrowdTangle was used by the Climate Action Against Disinformation coalition to track climate misinformation during COP events, such as identifying the resurgence of a debunked 2013 Daily Mail article during COP26.
• The EU Commission has criticized both Meta and X (formerly Twitter) regarding data access; it stated X failed to provide public data access per the Digital Services Act (DSA) and expressed concerns that Meta should expand rather than restrict tools during election periods.
• Researchers in the Global South are expected to face increased difficulty in studying online discourse and monitoring the spread of disinformation following the loss of CrowdTangle.

APA

Global Witness (n.d.). Crowd control: Losing Metas transparency tool poses a threat to democracy. https://globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/digital-threats/crowd-control-losing-metas-transparency-tool-poses-a-threat-to-democracy/

Chicago

Global Witness. Crowd control: Losing Metas transparency tool poses a threat to democracy. n.d. https://globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/digital-threats/crowd-control-losing-metas-transparency-tool-poses-a-threat-to-democracy/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Global Witness |title=Crowd control: Losing Metas transparency tool poses a threat to democracy |url=https://globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/digital-threats/crowd-control-losing-metas-transparency-tool-poses-a-threat-to-democracy/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{globalwitnessndcrowd, author = {{Global Witness}}, title = {{Crowd control: Losing Metas transparency tool poses a threat to democracy}}, publisher = {Global Witness}, url = {https://globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/digital-threats/crowd-control-losing-metas-transparency-tool-poses-a-threat-to-democracy/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }