Facebook launched ‘Trending Topics’ in 2014.
AB Wire
Facebook is set to revamp the controversial ‘trending topics’ feature to minimize the potential effects of individual biases. In response to a Senate inquiry into allegations of an editorial bias against conservative news organizations, the company told a US senator that an internal investigation had found ‘no evidence of systematic political bias.’
In a blog post on Tuesday, Colin stretch, Facebook General Counsel said the company has sent John Thune, Chairman of the US Senate Commerce Committee, a 12-page follow-up letter about the findings and conclusions of the investigation.
“Our data analysis indicated that conservative and liberal topics are approved as trending topics at virtually identical rates, at the same time, our investigation could not fully exclude the possibility of isolated improper actions or unintentional bias in the implementation of our guidelines or policies,” Colin Stretch posted.
“As part of our commitment to continually improve our products and to minimize risk where human judgment is involved, we are making a number of improvements to Trending Topics,” he added.
The overhauling includes an updated terminology in its guidelines to make them clearer and refresher training for all reviewers.
“We are also removing the ability to assign an importance level to a topic through assessment of the topic’s prominence on the top-10 list of news outlets and will expand our help center content on Trending Topics to provide more information about this feature and how it works,” Facebook added.
Technology website Gizmodo in its May 9 report accused that the curators of Facebook’s ‘trending topics’ feature suppressed news about conservative events and from conservative sources. Facebook denied bias but said that curators had more oversight over what appears in this feed than it previously disclosed.
“The seriousness with which Facebook has treated these allegations and its desire to serve as an open platform for all viewpoints is evident and encouraging and I look forward to the company’s actions meeting its public rhetoric,” Senator John Thune said in a statement, in response to Facebook’s letter.
Facebook launched ‘Trending Topics’ in 2014 to surface major conversations happening on Facebook.