Hello,

RIP CrowdTangle. Last week, Meta killed its industry-leading transparency tool, CrowdTangle.¹ This is a dangerous decision made by Meta’s executives – and it’s a decision that disregards our collective ability to monitor hate speech and disinformation on Facebook and Instagram.

But fortunately, there is a silver lining. CrowdTangle is ending, but the movement of researchers, journalists, and watchdogs fighting for robust data transparency from the world’s largest tech companies is stronger than ever – and we’re only just getting started.

Over the past months, the power of our campaign to preserve CrowdTangle’s approach has caught the attention of lawmakers and regulators in both the EU and the US.^2,3 We’ve shifted the conversation away from being about piecemeal software changes that Meta voluntarily gives us – and instead, we’re now working with researchers, lawmakers and regulators to dictate the types of data access we collectively need from Meta (and all other major platforms, too).

Together, we can preserve the legacy of CrowdTangle. We must continue the fight to ensure that journalists, researchers and watchdogs continue to have effective ways to track hate speech and disinformation on Meta’s platforms – and we won’t stop until robust data access for public interest research is a reality.

Will you become a monthly donor to Mozilla? Partnering with lawmakers and regulators to take on Meta and preserve CrowdTangle’s legacy will require a long-term advocacy effort – and monthly, sustaining donors are what makes that possible.

Since Facebook purchased CrowdTangle in 2016, this tool has been lauded as a leader in data access and transparency. It’s allowed tens of thousands of users to identify hate speech, election interference and hate speech in real time. But in recent years, Meta’s executives have questioned the worth of a tool that gives the public access to information that can be used to (fairly) criticise the company.⁴

Following Meta’s announcement that they’d kill CrowdTangle on 14 August 2024 – right in the middle of the biggest election year on record – the Mozilla community has led a widespread global campaign, including:

• 180 organisations, researchers, and journalists signed our open letter calling on Meta to protect the integrity of upcoming elections by maintaining CrowdTangle research, consult with the global CrowdTangle community, and onboard users immediately to their replacement tool.⁵
• Almost 66,000 of us signed the petition calling on Meta to rethink their decision.⁶
• Media outlets picked up this story, with headline after headline sharing our collective concerns to a global audience.⁷

Meanwhile, the European Commission hit Meta with a formal investigation, explicitly naming the company’s decision to ditch CrowdTangle and cut off access to real-time data used to monitor political disinformation during elections. And in the US, members of Congress sent a bipartisan letter to Meta asking the company tough questions we have also been asking.

Following months of sustained pressure, Meta has made several changes to the new Content Library and has made an effort to consult with CrowdTangle users.⁸ These changes are a step in the right direction but are not yet enough to transform the Content Library into an adequate replacement.

This is the moment we lose CrowdTangle forever – but our fight does not end here. We will not let up until Meta and all social media companies are required to provide robust transparency into their platforms. And with a raft of new transparency and accountability rules being debated and implemented all across the world, now is the perfect moment.

It’s up to us to reclaim the internet. And we can only be successful if we’re all in it together for the long run.

Will you consider signing up to become a monthly donor to Mozilla? Your donation will be used to push back against a world built by big tech, for big tech – and to reclaim the internet.

Thank you for all that you do for the internet.

Claire Pershan
EU Advocacy Lead
Mozilla

More Information:

1. AP News: Meta kills off misinformation tracking tool CrowdTangle despite pleas from researchers, journalists. 15 August 2024.

2. European Commission: Commission opens formal proceedings against Facebook and Instagram under the Digital Services Act. 30 April 2024.

3. Axios: Lawmakers ask Meta to delay shutting down CrowdTangle. 24 July 2024.

4. New York Times: A Former Facebook Executive Pushes to Open Social Media’s ‘Black Boxes’. 2 January 2022.

5. Mozilla Foundation: Open Letter To Meta. 14 March 2024.

6. Mozilla Foundation: TELL META: Don't Kill Your Crucial Transparency Tool, CrowdTangle! April 2024.

7. Some examples of the press coverage:

a. Fast Company: Former CrowdTangle CEO has questions about Meta’s decision to close the research tool during an election year. 23 March 2024.

b. Wired: Meta Kills a Crucial Transparency Tool at the Worst Possible Time. 25 March 2024.

8. Mozilla Foundation: Don’t be Fooled by Meta’s Transparency Display: Election Integrity Risks Remain. 4 June 2024.