My team is responsible for Trending Topics, and I want to address today’s reports alleging that Facebook contractors manipulated Trending Topics to suppress stories of interest to conservatives. We take these reports extremely seriously, and have found no evidence that the anonymous allegations are true.
Facebook is a platform for people and perspectives from across the political spectrum. There are rigorous guidelines in place for the review team to ensure consistency and neutrality. These guidelines do not permit the suppression of political perspectives. Nor do they permit the prioritization of one viewpoint over another or one news outlet over another. These guidelines do not prohibit any news outlet from appearing in Trending Topics.
Trending Topics is designed to showcase the current conversation happening on Facebook. Popular topics are first surfaced by an algorithm, then audited by review team members to confirm that the topics are in fact trending news in the real world and not, for example, similar-sounding topics or misnomers.
We are proud that, in 2015, the US election was the most talked-about subject on Facebook, and we want to encourage that robust political discussion from all sides. We have in place strict guidelines for our trending topic reviewers as they audit topics surfaced algorithmically: reviewers are required to accept topics that reflect real world events, and are instructed to disregard junk or duplicate topics, hoaxes, or subjects with insufficient sources. Facebook does not allow or advise our reviewers to systematically discriminate against sources of any ideological origin and we've designed our tools to make that technically not feasible. At the same time, our reviewers' actions are logged and reviewed, and violating our guidelines is a fireable offense.
There have been other anonymous allegations -- for instance that we artificially forced #BlackLivesMatter to trend. We looked into that charge and found that it is untrue. We do not insert stories artificially into trending topics, and do not instruct our reviewers to do so. Our guidelines do permit reviewers to take steps to make topics more coherent, such as combining related topics into a single event (such as #starwars and #maythefourthbewithyou), to deliver a more integrated experience.
Our review guidelines for Trending Topics are under constant review, and we will continue to look for improvements. We will also keep looking into any questions about Trending Topics to ensure that people are matched with the stories that are predicted to be the most interesting to them, and to be sure that our methods are as neutral and effective as possible.
Update 5/12: We've published some additional info about the process and guidelines that govern Trending:
http://newsroom.fb.com/news/2016/05/information-about-trending-topics/
Update 5/12: Mark shared his thoughts as well:
https://www.facebook.com/zuck/posts/10102830259184701
Update 5/23: We shared our response to Senator Thune's letter:
http://newsroom.fb.com/news/2016/05/response-to-chairman-john-thunes-letter-on-trending-topics/
Lorna Schinske
And what else would you expect them to say? They allowed the "Facebook Trending" stories to be on the "trending" sidebar just to prove that they were not doing what is alleged. Kinda like Hillary saying nothing happened in Benghazi or that she has no clue as to what happened to her emails. Basically, I figure you have to understand that this platform belongs to Facebook. It is under their control and they determine what stays on it and what doesn't. There is no "free speech" on Facebook. It is like a newspaper. Their ink, their rules. It is not a public forum but a social forum.
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Joanna McGinn
Pollitics is not the only suppressed opinion. You hate Christians and Jews. You promote Pit Bulls and their supporters and suppressthe news about victims. You have totaly lost any concept of free speech except when it aligns to YOUR point of view. The idea started out well, but where you stumbled and lost your 'ideals' is when you hired a dispalance of eastern libtards instead of people who have greater and longitudical views , who see the whole picture instead of granules. Remember that concept of looking at the health of the forest instead of the vacuoles on the leavesl.
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Larry Hardee
I know I've "hidden" topics in the past and used the radio buttons provided as to why. I no longer see those type of topics on my feed or trending. From a personal customization view, your system works as I would expect. My trending topics are like a daily entertainment "news of the weird" that highlights some pretty bizarre things going on in the world today. As the song goes.. "people are strange..."
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Pepper Powers Skeen
I have a revolutionary idea... how about you just run your program and allow that to be posted without any human audit review etc. If FB and you yourself truly support liberty and therefore among certain inalienable rights such as Free of Speech and Press, then FB by using a human audit team is messing with those rights. I as a grown adult human am certainly capable of making my own decisions about what I think is important and did a long time before there was social media. STOP infringing on my right to determine what I want to see and hear and likewise I will do the same for you.
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Earl S. Query
Tom---You apparently forget that most of us here can read. I don't think I will be buying your story and I certainly do not or never will depend on Facebook to keep me abreast of trending topics or political matters. Thanks for your input though. Who knows, someone may fall for it.
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Vance Jochim
Tom Stocky Thanks for responding to this. However, the press and Facebook need to investigate Facebook placing owners of conservative pages or groups into “Facebook Jail”, losing rights to post, sometimes for weeks on end. Examples are Rachel Cohen, founder of https://
I am documenting this now to justify Congressional Action to make Facebook a utility like phones, mail, TV and radio, where the provider is not allowed to block or censor those personal communications systems.It is against the law to disrupt cell phone traffic or mail, but why are Facebook and Twitter and email providers like Embarqmail / Centurylink all practicing conservative censorship of personal communications without warning, disclosure or easy recourse?
Vance Jochim FiscalRangers.c
I am documenting this now to justify Congressional Action to make Facebook a utility like phones, mail, TV and radio, where the provider is not allowed to block or censor those personal communications systems.It is against the law to disrupt cell phone traffic or mail, but why are Facebook and Twitter and email providers like Embarqmail / Centurylink all practicing conservative censorship of personal communications without warning, disclosure or easy recourse?
Vance Jochim FiscalRangers.c
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Roger Paul McEvilly
The facebook trending feature seems to have the same sort of problem as Mircosoft's 'Tay'; because it is automated to begin with, it routinely picks up errors, lies, and deliberate distortions which at first become popular not because they may/
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Jerry J. Jones
Let me see if I have this right! You investigate and look into allegations yourself! I am just suppose to believe and take you at your word that there is no truth to the allegations when you investigate yourself? There is no way you can convince me that there is no bias on the political information that is seen on facebook when it is so obvious that there is!
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Andre Van Uitregt
If this editorial is even half true, then Facebook has a lot to answer for. Facebook management and its directors need to be held accountable should this allegation prove to be accurate and correct. I must admit, looking back now over the last two years, I have not seen a great deal of optimistic and positive conservative media material being forthcoming via Facebook. This type of corporate media bias and manipulation behaviour is typical of Hitler's nazi media regime. An immediate independent inquiry to expose Facebook's management of this issue, will definitely shed some light of truth to this issue.
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Donald E. L. Johnson
Every publisher edits content regardless of whether it's produced by employees, freelancers or opinionated posters on Facebook and twitter.
The real editors on social media are the content consumers. Facebook and twitter readers follow folks they love, know and, mostly, agree with.
Bias and editing are in the eyes of the beholders much more than in the hands of monitors, moderators, editors or reporters. Anyone who denies he is biased about everything he writes or reads is delusional.
Daniel Kahneman writes in his book, Thinking Fast & Slow, that even he, a behaviorial psychologist and scholar, cannot overcome the effect of his biases and life experiences when he reviews, evaluates and describes data. None of us can.
The real editors on social media are the content consumers. Facebook and twitter readers follow folks they love, know and, mostly, agree with.
Bias and editing are in the eyes of the beholders much more than in the hands of monitors, moderators, editors or reporters. Anyone who denies he is biased about everything he writes or reads is delusional.
Daniel Kahneman writes in his book, Thinking Fast & Slow, that even he, a behaviorial psychologist and scholar, cannot overcome the effect of his biases and life experiences when he reviews, evaluates and describes data. None of us can.
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Joshua Namm
Please. I have been on Facebook for over 10 years. It is EXTREMELY rare to see a story that would be interesting to conservatives. I have never seen a single article critical of Obama for instance. I have never seen an article that casts the GOP in a decent light. But it's hard to tell through the barrage of celebrity gossip that you seem to thing I care about. This isn't even about politics, it's about the obvious lack of integrity that Facebook is showing on this issue.
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Stephanie Battaglia
I find the opposite & feel like all I see is conservative topics in news feed/trending etc. That aside - Facebook is FREE - it bugs the hell out of me when people complain about it. Don't like it? Find another platform that keeps you connected to friends & family worldwide & stores your photos for free, all the while reminding you that it's your Mom's birthday.....
5 yrsReport
Pgary Stephen Morris
in your "combining related topics into a single event" do you allow this combining to affect the numbers which affect the visibility?? if so is this combining done with some topics and not others so that the combined "event"s appear more popular. and finally, do politically liberally slanted topics tend to receive this combining treatment in order that they cohere into a single event more often than topics with a conservative political slant?? also, how many of the top dogs there are Repubs, Dems, and how many give to Repubs, Dems, and how few are clear to see that neither are worth a nickel??
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John Winker
Tom Stocky -- If you and your team can blacklist topics, can you please permaban "Azealia Banks" since “doesn’t represent a real-world event” definitely applies? If you cannot, is there anyway "I" can blacklist "Azealia Banks" from ever showing up again on my page? Because, like I said, “doesn’t represent a real-world event”...
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Michelle Rioux
I do not believe you. That said, I'm not upset about Facebook determining what kinds of speech to permit. This is not a public forum; it is one form of social media, managed by a private company. If Facebook determines that something is hate speech and wants to protect its users from that, fine. Just be honest about it. Stop pretending to be objective. There's no objective algorithm that justifies suppressing pictures of women breast-feeding but not pictures of Kate Moss with one overall strap over a nipple. In both cases, the nipples are covered and the rest of the breast is exposed. Even if there were an objective algorithm for distinguishing between these images, there is no objective reason for then allowing a picture of a transgender breast-feeding but not a cisgender doing the same activity.
I'm in law school. One more year to go before the bar. I am well aware that there are ways to phrase a rule so that it sounds objective, even though it's applied in a discriminatory fashion. The rule allowing Facebook moderators to eliminate topics with "insufficient sources", for example, is broad enough to allow Facebook moderators to suppress conservative viewpoints as the moderator can simply base the suppression on the fact that conservative news media lacks the professional clout of a major news network like CNN.
So, as I said at the outset, I do not believe you.
I'm in law school. One more year to go before the bar. I am well aware that there are ways to phrase a rule so that it sounds objective, even though it's applied in a discriminatory fashion. The rule allowing Facebook moderators to eliminate topics with "insufficient sources", for example, is broad enough to allow Facebook moderators to suppress conservative viewpoints as the moderator can simply base the suppression on the fact that conservative news media lacks the professional clout of a major news network like CNN.
So, as I said at the outset, I do not believe you.
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Court Doss
Facebook is being accused of manipulating its trending topics in favor of their own political bias, yet they've kept their own scandal near the top of my trending topics for 4 days? I'm gonna go out on a limb and say if it were rigging the trends, FB would keep its own scandal off the trending column.
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JD Laboy
When you publish a live feed of your Trending Topics source code, we will believe you. Otherwise, it's obvious that you are suppressing topics and spinning the news.
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Caleb Bearup
so you investigated yourself to see if you were doing anything wrong and you found that you weren't doing anything wrong. If the claims against you are true then of course you wouldn't think you were doing anything wrong because you chose what to do based on your own personal beliefs and ideologies. And if they are false then you found that you did nothing wrong because you didn't. So unfortunately even if you were put to a lie detector test you'd pass whether the accusations are true or false. Because you believe you honestly are doing things on the up and up. So this whole status is meaningless without independent verification. However because it's an ever changing thing it's impossible to verify the present to guage what was done in the past. But thanks for at least allowing this story to trend regardless of whether you wanted to suppress it or not.
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Paul Emerson Leicht
This seems like a non-issue issue. Were the trending topics blocking stuff I want to see, I suppose it would be upsetting but it is not their job to supply ME with interests. It is my job to do that. If I am not finding what I want here, I should go elsewhere. Such as is described in how to navigate the free market. IE: Use the competition and if there isn't one, create one. Or don't be upset when it doesn't go your way. Facebook is not a social institute as much as they might want to be. It is not the job of facebook to be your nanny, article guide, critic, etc. It is your job to discern who is best suited to that task for you. Also nothing for nothing, much of what "trends" is purely garbage in my humble opinion. Therefore it does not in general interest me. Read a book? A newspaper maybe? Talk to some people face to face? Etc.
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Chris Cassady
I admit that I am a conservative, but it has been apparent to many people for quite some time that Facebook's algorithm is skewed to more liberal viewpoints. If you want to be taken seriously you need to open up and release more specific details on how your scheme works. My suggestion is that if you are going to be a liberal source of information admit it, but do not give the illusion of being impartial.
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Aimee Schoeman
"instructed to disregard junk or duplicate topics, hoaxes, or subjects with insufficient sources"
I'm guessing THAT is why conservative posts don't end up in Trending Topics.
I'm guessing THAT is why conservative posts don't end up in Trending Topics.
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Kathy Courtland
Here is an important quote. Fbook operations are subversive and not at all as portrayed: “Depending on who was on shift, things would be blacklisted or trending,” said the former curator. This individual asked to remain anonymous, citing fear of retribution from the company. The former curator is politically conservative, one of a very small handful of curators with such views on the trending team. “I’d come on shift and I’d discover that CPAC or Mitt Romney or Glenn Beck or popular conservative topics wouldn’t be trending because either the curator didn’t recognize the news topic or it was like they had a bias against Ted Cruz.”
The former curator was so troubled by the omissions that they kept a running log of them at the time; this individual provided the notes to Gizmodo. Among the deep-sixed or suppressed topics on the list: former IRS official Lois Lerner, who was accused by Republicans of inappropriately
The former curator was so troubled by the omissions that they kept a running log of them at the time; this individual provided the notes to Gizmodo. Among the deep-sixed or suppressed topics on the list: former IRS official Lois Lerner, who was accused by Republicans of inappropriately
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Joseph Taylor
Some of the Trending topics are so esoteric that I find it difficult to believe any algorithm would select them without a human "boost." Also, in this political season, I have to think some politics would Trend.
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Wendy McInnis
thanks for the explanation...b
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Virginia Kahn
I am on sights for cooking and earth based religions and Haunted house history type -- keep getting notices telling me to click now or they will be deleted tired of getting notices telling me Clinton is trending when i know Bernie have over 1,000 at a time and more showing up for his rallies --- Why are you all messing with it - and when i report the porn style crap, and Gun fanatics filling up up my feed I am told it is within Guide Lines --- I want more control over my feed and what I see - I want to choose to opt out of the crap I set my preferences the way I want them to have corporate change it for there own purpose upsets me, Books, Bernie, PEACE Gardens, History, Pagan REAL NEWS - Quit pushing hillbot and the war machine I won't vote for her -
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Brent Estep
While I'm sure there is senserity in your statement, you have mentioned yourself that "You" have investigated this matter. That is not a neutral view/
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Laurent Nussbaum
Well, to be honest, I always thought they were some kind of human action behind the news part of Facebook. It's not surprising. The problem is that you lied, saying that it was all about algorithms. What else do you lie about? I think it's time for Facebook to be honest and let people decide whether or not they like it.
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Kevin Shaw
You forcibly change the names of your users, many of whom do not identify with their birth names.
You artificially manipulate trending topics to suit your political goals.
You target Facebook groups who support the second amendment for extra scrutiny, and in many cases just shut them down.
Are you surprised to find people do not trust you? Is it unreasonable to think we do not appreciate the way you use your popularity to control public discussion?
You should be the greatest champions of free speech, yet you prove more every day that you are its greatest enemy.
You artificially manipulate trending topics to suit your political goals.
You target Facebook groups who support the second amendment for extra scrutiny, and in many cases just shut them down.
Are you surprised to find people do not trust you? Is it unreasonable to think we do not appreciate the way you use your popularity to control public discussion?
You should be the greatest champions of free speech, yet you prove more every day that you are its greatest enemy.
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Dante Porter
So coming from a neutral perspective I just want to point out that Facebook's main user demographic is millennials, Gen Y, Gen X, and just younger people in general.
This means that the trending topics will always likely lean more left than right because most young people lean more left than right. It's not to say there aren't conservative young people, they are just fewer and further between than in older generations. This explains the same reason the Kardashians and Justin Bieber will trend even if you have no interest in their lives. Young people find it interesting and they are the main users of Facebook.
This means that the trending topics will always likely lean more left than right because most young people lean more left than right. It's not to say there aren't conservative young people, they are just fewer and further between than in older generations. This explains the same reason the Kardashians and Justin Bieber will trend even if you have no interest in their lives. Young people find it interesting and they are the main users of Facebook.
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