Issue One launches new database highlighting history of broken promises by the world’s largest tech companies

Today, Issue One launched a new database cataloging the history of empty proclamations and covert policy changes by the world’s largest technology companies. Big Tech’s Broken Promises will help shed light on how these platforms operate in practice, rather than in their marketing or lobbying materials. All of the examples included in the tracker were announced publicly, only to be later retracted, significantly altered, marginalized, or never come to fruition.

The launch of Issue One’s Broken Promises tracker comes on the heels of another broken promise by a major platform with the shutdown of Meta’s CrowdTangle, a tool used by academic and civil society researchers to study activity on Instagram and Facebook. Since Meta (then-Facebook) purchased CrowdTangle in 2016, researchers and fact-checkers have used it to study critical user activity on the platform, shedding light on topics such as foreign interference, misinformation, and disinformation.

“The timing of CrowdTangle’s shutdown is not a coincidence. By making it harder to track false information online just months before a crucial presidential election, Meta is once again attempting to skirt responsibility and avoid accountability,” said Alix Fraser, director of Issue One’s Council for Responsible Social Media. “Time and time again, these platforms have demonstrated that they cannot be trusted to grade their own homework or act in our best interest. That’s why Congress needs to step in and adopt crucial oversight tools that will bring much-needed accountability to Big Tech and help promote a safer, healthier information environment.”

Meta’s decision to replace CrowdTangle with the less functional Content Library raises concerns about how false information will be tracked and mitigated, particularly during a historic election year that has seen foreign adversaries escalating their interference efforts, including the spread of false and misleading information on platforms like Facebook. These false narratives helped fuel the turmoil and violence on January 6, 2021, as documented by the House Select Committee that investigated the Capitol insurrection, and have contributed to ongoing efforts designed to sow distrust and undermine public confidence in U.S. elections.

Despite open letters from members of Congress across both sides of the aisle and 181 civil society groups, Meta has ignored these concerns, instead deciding to sunset a crucial social listening tool just three months before the next U.S. presidential election. Meta has touted CrowdTangle as an empowering tool for researchers, just like it has touted promises about protecting election information in 2016, 2018, 2020, 2022, and 2024. Just as the company vowed to keep kids safe online, protect user privacy, and combat radicalization as well.

These broken promises are illustrative of the broader incentives driving not only Meta but the broader Big Tech ecosystem, including Snap, X (formerly Twitter), TikTok, and Google’s YouTube.

Without meaningful federal transparency standards, these companies have chosen to offer only sporadic and incomplete disclosures that keep policymakers and the American public in the dark. In lieu of these tools, our new tracker compiles testimonies, news articles, academic and civil society research, and more to document more than 100 broken promises from Big Tech. This interactive tracker is designed to inform lawmakers, advocates, and researchers as they seek to apply new oversight measures to these companies. Users can filter the tracker to sort by category, date, platform, and type of promise.

Click here to explore the Broken Promises tracker and learn more about Issue One’s tech reform efforts.