Facebook is denying the allegations that it was manipulating news that appears in its popular “Trending Topics” section.
Quick recap: Gizmodo recently broke comments from former Facebook workers that claimed they were asked to mediate the news that appeared in the website's popular section, which was launched in 2014. The FB whistleblowers claimed that a lot of conservative news fell victim to these practices.
In a blog post Thursday, FB’s VP of Global Operations Justin Osofsky said the selection process for the stories that make the cut are not determined by humans.
“Topics that are eligible to appear in the product are surfaced by our algorithms, not people,” he said. “This product also has a team of people who play an important role in making sure that what appears in Trending Topics is high-quality and useful.”
Osofsky explained that the Trending Topics team is “governed by a set of guidelines” but these are meant to offer a “high-quality product,” and ensures Facebook remains a “platform for people of all viewpoints.”
The VP went on to describe how the section works (here’s the juice!):
But, what about allegations that FB had a tendency of rejecting right-wing news?
In the Q-A portion of the blog post, Osofsky addresses these concerns:
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