• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • Advertise With Us
  • Contact
  • Cookie Policy
    • Privacy statement (CA)
    • Cookie policy (CA)
    • Privacy statement (UK)
    • Cookie policy (UK)
    • Privacy statement (US)
    • Cookie Policy (US)
    • Privacy statement (EU)
    • Cookie policy (EU)
    • Disclaimer

TechWalls

Technology News | Gadget Reviews | Tutorials

  • Reviews
  • Tech News
  • Tech Guide
  • Gadget & Apps

Can You really Trust how Facebook Curates News Stories for you?

Updated on May 10, 2016 by Guest Authors

On Monday, a former Facebook contractor made a shocking revelation about the social networking site’s practice of curating trending topics for the site’s Trending News section.

Conservative topics, according to the contractor who also happened to be a journalist, were constantly withdrawn from the readers and users of Facebook even if those topics were indeed trending on the social network site.

facebook-ads

A number of former news curators at Facebook also revealed via Gizmodo that what they did, as per instruction from the Facebook management, was to pick stories and infuse them into the trending news section, bypassing what was supposed to be an algorithm-based selection of news stories. The selected news stories do not have to be popular in real-time, what mattered was that they are not topics of conservative nature and, most especially, they are not about Facebook in a negative light.

The revelation raises questions about the trustworthiness of Facebook’s trending news section, leading some to accuse the site of biases and scruples meant to protect the company’s interest and corporate imperatives. If that is true, then Facebook’s trending news section is nothing different from a typical newsroom where stories are curated according to the biases of the editors.

But that is not as much of an issue as Facebook’s statement that the news section lists topics that have been recently trending among its hundreds of millions of users. The role of Facebook’s trending news section is critical to the users because it helps to feed information, or misinformation, to the vast majority of people. Any attempt at tweaking the results would have serious consequences to the awareness of Facebook users.

According to the former curator at Facebook, the things that go to the trending list or blacklist depend largely on who was assigned in a particular shift. In fact, according to the curator who provided a running blacklist to Gizmodo, some popular names in U.S. politics were not included in the trending news section even though they hit the mark for that category at the time: the list includes Chris Kyle, the murdered Navy SEAL, Mitt Romney, and other conservative topics.

News from right-leaning news sources were also removed from the trending list even if they were trending, including articles from Washington Examiner, unless left-wing news outlets like CNN and The New York Times run a similar story, according to the former curator. Facebook is known to tweak its algorithm. So it might not be surprising at all that the news curators also maneuvered the trending module.

Disclosure: We might earn commission from qualifying purchases. The commission help keep the rest of my content free, so thank you!

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Footer

FLIR ONE Pro Review – A Must-Have Thermal Camera for Homeowners

New iDPRT Printers – SP450, SP420, and Zeva 1966 Photo Printer Reviewed

Carepod One MS031S2 Cool Mist Humidifier Review – The Sleek and Effective Solution for Dry Air

Master & Dynamic MW75 Wireless Headphones Review – Get Lost in the Music

Follow TechWalls

YoutubeFacebookTwitterInstagram

Recent Posts

  • Best Oral-B Alternative: Bitvae R2 Electric Toothbrush Review
  • Prevent Tooth Decay & Gum Disease with Bitvae C2 Water Dental Flosser
  • MRCOOL DIY 4-Zone Ductless Mini-Split Heat Pump – The Total Cost and Installation Time
  • List of Phones with Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Processor

Copyright © 2023 · All Rights Reserved

Manage Cookie Consent
We use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. We do this to improve browsing experience and to show personalized ads. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional cookies Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}