US lawmakers voiced “concern” Wednesday over Meta’s decision to shut down CrowdTangle — a digital tool considered vital in monitoring falsehoods –- in a major election year, urging the tech giant to delay the move by six months.
The Palo Alto company has said CrowdTangle will be unavailable after August 14 — less than three months before the US election.
Meta plans to replace it with a new tool that researchers say lacks the same functionality, and which many news organizations will not have access to.
“We write with concern about Meta’s announced plan to end access” to the “powerful transparency tool,” a group of bipartisan lawmakers wrote in a letter to Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg.
“We urge Meta to, at a minimum, postpone this plan for six months and provide further information about its …