Safety Feature Enhanced in CrowdTangle
Meta has integrated safety features in its misinformation tracking tool that is CrowdTangle in response to the upcoming “European Parliament elections”. The initiative is taken in response to addressing the negative influence of phasing out this tool upon upcoming elections. With the new update now the users of Facebook and Instagram would be able to see a new feature in their account in upcoming days regarding how to save their account.
What is the CrowdTangle tool?
CrowdTangle is a tool introduced by Meta to assess, follow, and analyze the content that is shared on Social media. The tool is widely utilized by researchers, scientists, or journalists to track or identify harmful information circulated in media. Researchers also agree that without this tool, their ability to identify threats and alert the audience about misinformation or dangers might have been significantly diminished.
Meta’s approach to tackle Misinformation
(Source: Economic Times)
The reason behind this move
The decision to enhance the safety feature amid the election scenario is taken to address the EU concerns that led to an investigation last month regarding the implications of its decision to discontinue the tool. As per the reports of the Economic Times Meta has more than 250 million monthly audiences.
The steps are taken to enhance the integrity of the election cycle as this tool is regarded as the best tool for maintaining the transparency of the news platform in real-time. However, Meta decided to discontinue the tool on August 14, 2024, as the company is focusing to invest on developing other tools.
In an open letter by the Mozilla Foundation, it is found that the decision of Meta to discontinue the tool without any effective alternative may violate the integrity of the election cycle going to take place in the US Brazil, and Australia.
The abandonment of the tool will hamper the external world from knowing what is happening in the outside world involving the integrity of election experts. This basically means the prohibition of theCrowdTangle impedes political misinformation and silences online crime against women and minority groups.
This is a direct threat to safeguarding the integrity of voting cycles. Thus, Meta has taken this move to enhance the safety feature of this application before the critical situation of voting and to maintain the integrity of voting cycles
What the new safety feature would include?
As a result of enhancing the safety of this tool, the users would be able to view a notification at the top of their Instagram and Facebook accounts to protect themselves and their accounts. Additionally, it will include features such as setting up two-factor authentication, reviewing security settings, and creating hidden words, similar to a feature found on Instagram. The hidden requests impulsively send a message plea consisting of offensive terms, phrases, or emojis into a hidden folder. The updates and integration of safety features in CrowdTangle are implemented to promote a safe online environment. Additionally, it is ensured that the new safety updates for these platforms comply with EU regulations, thereby addressing issues related to content moderation.
Response of the EU Commission on this move
The EU Commission expressed approval of the move. Concerning this initiative, the commission confirmed that they will incorporate this functionality and cooperate with Meta to develop a more permanent approach that addresses all concerns related to false news or information as outlined in the initial decisions.
In conclusion, the integration of enhanced features into the crowd tanker is a proactive response by Meta to addressing concerns raised by the European Union regarding the integrity of the upcoming European Parliament elections. The positive response by the EU Commission and willingness to collaborate with meta underscores the significance of this enhancement in promoting reliability and safety in the environment during the critical electoral.
