ALBAWABA - Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has closed CrowdTangle, a tool that is frequently used by journalists, watchdog groups, and researchers to track the spread of disinformation on the company's platforms as it reportedly struggles with Hebrew content amid the ongoing Israeli aggression on Gaza and ahead of US elections.
Earlier, Former Meta content moderation employee disclosed internal policy guidelines with the Guardian describing a complex approach to regulating war-related content, suggesting Meta does not have the same processes to evaluate Hebrew and Arabic content.
Researchers and nonprofits objected to Meta's CrowdTangle shutdown, announced earlier this year. In March, the Mozilla Foundation sent Meta letter requesting it to maintain the free tool running until January for the U.S. presidential elections, with dozens of academic organizations and experts signing the letter, according to inc.com.
“This decision jeopardizes essential pre- and post-election oversight mechanisms and undermines Meta's transparency efforts during this critical period, and at a time when social trust and digital democracy are alarmingly fragile,” the letter said.
Just a few months before the presidential election in the United States, the decision also comes at a crucial time, when recent reports have shown that Meta is still having trouble moderating content in Hebrew and relative to Gaza war.
The Guardian, citing a former Meta employee, notes that the company’s moderation struggles were mirrored in a recent letter signed by more than 200 Meta employees, who claimed that the company's content policies create the appearance that the company's objectives are not about truly ensuring safe material for the community.
The letter's organizer, Cat Knarr of the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, said that “People don’t hear about what’s happening in Palestine, but they do hear propaganda that dehumanizes Palestinians,” adding that “the consequences are very dangerous and very real.”
In response, Meta said earlier this week that CrowdTangle will be shut down due to its "hard to maintain" nature and lack of representation of what is actually going on its platforms.
