Following the U.S. presidential election in 2016, Facebook came under heavy criticism for its handling of misinformation and foreign interference. Afterward, the company pledged to keep a closer eye on elections worldwide and make sure these spammy influence campaigns didn’t take off again. However, according to a report this week in VICE, the social media giant has slowly deprioritized this effort, turning its attention instead toward the profit-generating metaverse.

In 2018, Facebook purchased a tool called CrowdTangle to allow journalists and researchers to track how election misinformation spreads. But now, the company is phasing out the tool, preventing new users from registering and moving employees off the project. Facebook has sketched out a plan to replace the system, but according to experts, this proposed feature is not adequate to match the scope of the problem.

“The system proposed to replace CrowdTangle is — so far — terrible,” said Dr. Rebekah Tromble, director of the Institute for Data, Democracy & Politics. “But most importantly, it’s inaccessible to journalists, who are the bulwark for public accountability and democracy. If I can access CrowdTangle and journalists can’t, we all lose.”

It’s sadly not surprising that Facebook’s leadership has chosen to focus on the metaverse instead of this valuable tool. Come November, the company could seriously regret that decision.

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