John,

As Congress and regulators focus on TikTok, Facebook remains the dominant social media platform, with five times as many daily views. Notably, older Americans make up a significant portion of those views.

During the 2016 election, the Trump campaign exploited Facebook's algorithm to spread false and misleading news stories to millions of persuadable voters. I personally experienced this when my aunt texted me about a false story claiming the Pope had endorsed Trump―a narrative that spread rapidly on Facebook.

We only know the extent of these misinformation campaigns thanks to CrowdTangle, a third-party transparency tool that allowed researchers to track the traction of certain stories on social media.

Sign the petition demanding Facebook maintain CrowdTangle as a critical transparency tool! With the next election looming, we must preserve this vital resource for tracking misinformation on social media.

In response to the post-election backlash in 2016, Facebook acquired CrowdTangle. Now they've announced plans to shut it down in August 2024, only a few months before Election Day.

This appears to be a classic case of "catch and kill," where a large company acquires another solely to eliminate its competition. We cannot allow this to happen.

Social Security Works uses CrowdTangle to monitor stories that our members are seeing. Social media disinformation hasn’t gone away. If anything, it’s just getting worse. We need CrowdTangle’s monitoring tools through the election to prepare rapid response moments.

Let's ensure that Facebook prioritizes accountability and transparency over its own interests. Tell Facebook: We need CrowdTangle to stay ahead of misinformation campaigns and protect our democracy

Thank you,

Michael Phelan
Social Security Works