Skip to content
The Mindanao Examiner Regional Newspaper

The Mindanao Examiner Regional Newspaper

Title

Name

Primary Menu
  • Home
  • Mindanao
  • Visayas
  • National
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Business
  • International
  • SciTech
  • Health & Wellness
  • Sports
  • About Us
    • Regional Advertising Rates
    • Contact Us
    • Profile
  • Home
  • International
  • Facebook Drops News Outlet Input in ‘Trending Topics’ Review – ABC News
  • Featured
  • International
  • Technology

Facebook Drops News Outlet Input in ‘Trending Topics’ Review – ABC News

Editor May 24, 2016

Facebook says it is dropping its reliance on news outlets to help determine what gets posted as a “trending topic” on the giant social network, a move adopted after a backlash over a report saying it suppressed conservative views.

Facebook’s General Counsel Colin Stretch outlined the change in a 12-page letter sent Monday to Republican Sen. John Thune, chairman of the commerce committee, which oversees the Internet and consumer protections.

The move comes less than a week after Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg met with Glenn Beck and more than a dozen other conservative commentators to address concerns stemming from a report in the tech blog Gizmodo. The Gizmodo report, which relied on a single anonymous former Facebook worker with self-described conservative leanings, claimed that Facebook downplays conservative news subjects on its trending feature.

As part of the changes outlined Monday, Facebook will stop looking to news outlets like The Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post and Drudge Report to automatically nominate topics for its trending feature. It also automatically nominates topics based on a spike in user posts about a subject.

“In our meetings last week, we received feedback that any list — even a good one — inherently raises questions of which publications are included versus which are not,” said Facebook spokeswoman Jodi Seth. “Based on this feedback, we felt that the best approach would be to clear up this issue by removing these lists entirely and focus on surfacing the conversation on Facebook.”

Trending topics are seen on the right side of the screen on computers, or after tapping on the search bar in a mobile app.

As part of its review, Facebook found that members of the team working on trending topics could temporarily suppress topics if news outlets weren’t reporting on them enough.

But said it found no evidence of systemic political bias, though it couldn’t discount that a lone wolf might be able to game its system.

“It is impossible to fully exclude the possibility that, over the years of the feature’s existence, a specific reviewer took isolated actions with an improper motive,” it said.

Thune said in a statement he found Facebook’s response “encouraging” though it revealed that its trending topics feature “relied on human judgment, and not just an automated process, more than previously acknowledged.”

Brent Bozell, the president of the conservative Media Research Center and who attended last week’s meeting, applauded the change.

“Facebook was relying on a preponderance of liberal and leftist ‘news’ organs. By not relying on any specific news outlets, Facebook returns to its neutral roots,” he said in a statement.(RYAN NAKASHIMA,)

Link: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/facebook-makes-trending-topics-review-39321764

fb-share-icon
Tweet 20

Continue Reading

Previous: B.C. hospital fails to warn woman of potential lung cancer for 11 months – CBC News
Next: Netanyahu renews rejection of French peace initiative – Al Jazeera

Related News

Dmitry-Medvedev
  • International

Russian official claims nations ready to supply Iran with nuclear weapons

Editor June 23, 2025
Iran-Nuclear-Sites-target
  • International

Nuclear watchdog condemns US attack on Iranian nuclear sites as ‘illegal’

Editor June 23, 2025
KA-GO-Cordless-Food-Chopper
  • Business
  • Technology

The New KitchenAid® Go™ Cordless System brings Freedom to the Kithchen

Editor June 17, 2025

Trending News

Russian official claims nations ready to supply Iran with nuclear weapons Dmitry-Medvedev 1
  • International

Russian official claims nations ready to supply Iran with nuclear weapons

June 23, 2025
Nuclear watchdog condemns US attack on Iranian nuclear sites as ‘illegal’ Iran-Nuclear-Sites-target 2
  • International

Nuclear watchdog condemns US attack on Iranian nuclear sites as ‘illegal’

June 23, 2025
PH gov’t hits country’s ‘false ranking’ as least safe for travelers Christina-Frasco-Dot 3
  • National
  • Tourism

PH gov’t hits country’s ‘false ranking’ as least safe for travelers

June 19, 2025
PhilHealth’s New Benefits for Post-Kidney Transplantation Services PhilHealth-Artcard 4
  • Health
  • National

PhilHealth’s New Benefits for Post-Kidney Transplantation Services

June 19, 2025
How a Teacher is Cultivating the Future of Agriculture, One Batch of Scholars at a Time JeromeMabaso_ JGF-1 5
  • Business

How a Teacher is Cultivating the Future of Agriculture, One Batch of Scholars at a Time

June 19, 2025
  • Facebook
  • X
  • YouTube
  • Blog
Copyright © 2025. The Mindanao Examiner Regional Newspaper. All Rights Reserved. | MoreNews by AF themes.