Politwoops, the platform that monitored politicians’ deleted tweets and held them accountable for their public statements, shut down in 2019. This leaves a hole in political transparency and accountability. So, in the absence of Politwoops, who will keep politicians honest in the social media age?
Several factors led to Politwoops’ demise. Running the platform required extensive human and technical resources to track the torrent of tweets by politicians. The volume became unsustainable, especially with politicians actively working to evade monitoring. Legal threats also played a role, with some politicians arguing the platform violated their privacy.
However, the need for political accountability and transparency remains as strong as ever in our hyper-partisan times. Social media provides direct access to politicians’ statements and views, offering valuable insights into their positions and characters. When controversial statements can simply disappear with a quick delete—or be scrubbed entirely using tools like a Twitter Archive Eraser—it enables politicians to surreptitiously rewrite history and dodge responsibility for their words.
The Rise and Fall of Politwoops
Politwoops launched in 2010 as a groundbreaking accountability tool. The Sunlight Foundation developed the platform to archive and publicize deleted tweets by politicians and political parties. This gave the public an unvarnished look into the views politicians wanted to hide.
Politwoops experienced early success and rapid growth. Open State Foundation, with organizations like the Sunlight Foundation in the U.S., established Politwoops sites in over 30 countries to monitor local politicians. Millions of deleted tweets are poured into these archives each year. Politwoops exposed many embarrassing gaffes and controversies as politicians’ hastily deleted hot takes saw the light of day.
By 2016, Politwoops tracked over 4,000 politicians globally across national and local governments. But explosive growth brought sustainability challenges. Reviewing and publishing deleted tweets required extensive human verification and coordination across newsrooms publishing content. Platform costs mounted even as politicians increased tweet deletion rates to undermine monitoring efforts.
After Elon Musk acquired Twitter and the tightening of API access (notably in early 2023), Politwoops lost the technical ability to function. Twitter’s API restrictions, paywalls, and reduced trust in moderation transparency made the project unsustainable. As of 2024, most national versions of Politwoops have either been suspended or shut down entirely.
The Value of Political Accountability in the Social Media Age
Politwoops demonstrated immense public interest in politicians’ unvarnished views and statements. Traffic analysis showed Politwoops content routinely went viral as people shared revelations about political hypocrisy and backtracking. Even while politicians dislike transparency that constrains messaging, many political observers see unfiltered access to politicians’ views as highly valuable for informed civic discourse.
Social media provides a unique window into politicians’ values and policy positions. Tweets offer insights distinct from polished speeches and public relations statements. According to social media experts, spontaneously composed tweets from personal accounts offer the best traces of authentic beliefs and ideology.
These platforms also provide abundant evidence of biases, inconsistencies, and misinformation in ways politicians cannot hide from. Deleting or altering past posts allows covering up flip-flops and gaffes. But when blunders pass through public archives first, politicians cannot escape accountability.
Who Watches the Politicians Now?
Politwoops’ demise removed a key pillar of political accountability. And in the years since, the political environment has only grown more polarized and tribal. Social media disinformation flooding from political accounts has led to calls for more oversight, not less. So in Politwoops’ absence, who steps in to monitor political leaders and call out inconvenient facts?
Several initiatives carry Politwoops’ mantle, attempting to track politicians’ deleted posts and statements.
Politwoops Relaunches Targeting State Politicians
In 2021, ProPublica and the Sunlight Foundation soft-launched a revived Politwoops focusing on state-level U.S. politicians. This includes governors, legislators, attorneys general, and top administrators. The relaunched platform monitors around 1,000 politicians across nearly all 50 states.
The state-level focus aims to fill gaps in political accountability and transparency. Mainstream media coverage concentrates heavily on federal politics. State and local leaders often receive minimal scrutiny for their social media histories. However, state officials frequently aspire to higher federal offices. Developing an accurate record of their past statements serves the public interest.
ProPublica positions itself as an ideal host for keeping Politwoops viable. As a non-profit newsroom dedicated to investigative journalism on abuses of power, political accountability aligns with its organizational goals. ProPublica also possesses the development resources to maintain an effective monitoring system. Its focus on state politicians carves out a strategic niche not in conflict with for-profit newsrooms.
Other Platforms Step Up to Fill Voids
Beyond Politwoops, other platforms also archive politicians’ deleted social media posts to support transparency. For example:
- Deleted Tweets Archive. An automated archive of deleted tweets by politicians, media figures, and other influencers. Users can browse archives of high-profile figures and submit screenshots of deleted tweets.
- Trump Twitter Archive. A comprehensive archive of former President Donald Trump’s tweets, including deleted tweets during his presidency. The database offers search and analytics on Trump’s prolifically controversial Twitter presence while in office.
- Congressional Tweets Archive. A Capitol Hill watchdog project archiving tweets by all members of Congress. The project uses machine learning techniques to identify deleted tweets and publishes the most relevant online.
These archives demonstrate an enduring interest in preserving politicians’ deleted posts from voters and the media. They apply a mix of automation, crowdsourcing, and curation to capture politically impactful deletions. Together, they partially fill gaps left by Politwoops’ closure.
Challenges Still Exist for Political Transparency Projects
However, substantial obstacles remain to comprehensively monitoring politicians’ social media histories. As seen with Politwoops, attempts at universal coverage require huge resources, both human and technical. Strategic sampling methods go only so far. Politicians also aggressively seek ways to circumvent monitoring, forcing transparency platforms into a constant arms race.
Legal threats also loom over projects exposing politicians’ online histories. European data and privacy laws were specifically weaponized against Politwoops’ operations. There are indications that similar legal attacks could threaten platforms operating in the United States as well.
In many ways, politicians hold the upper hand in limiting accountability over their social media histories. Only sustained public pressure is likely to keep politicians honest about their past statements. So voters must signal to leaders that online transparency remains a firm expectation, even when it cuts against a politician’s self-interest.
The Bottom Line
Politwoops’ shutdown leaves no single organization positioned to fully inherit its role in political accountability. However, its impact continues to ripple outwards. Politwoops conclusively demonstrated public demand for transparency when politicians wish records would disappear.
It also highlighted social media’s role as a valuable window into politicians’ true colors. Tweets and posts trace out positions and rhetoric beyond canned speeches and public relations facade. Letting leaders selectively edit past statements enables mass deception.
