Meta replaces key misinformation tool, concerning experts

Meta — Facebook’s parent company — is facing a backlash among academics, journalists and researchers over its decision to shutter a vital misinformation tracking tool.

The tool, CrowdTangle, was bought by Meta in 2016 and shut down earlier this month, replaced with a new version called Meta Content Library. Experts say the new tool is not as good as the previous one and will make it harder to track and combat misinformation and disinformation online during this election cycle.

Here & Now‘s David Folkenflik speaks to Jennifer Stromer-Galley, director for the Center for Computational and Data Sciences at Syracuse University and a regular user of the tool. She signed an open letter criticizing the move.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.