Posted on 05/09/2016 6:40:48 AM PDT by Rockitz
Facebook workers routinely suppressed news stories of interest to conservative readers from the social network’s influential “trending” news section, according to a former journalist who worked on the project. This individual says that workers prevented stories about the right-wing CPAC gathering, Mitt Romney, Rand Paul, and other conservative topics from appearing in the highly-influential section, even though they were organically trending among the site’s users.
Several former Facebook “news curators,” as they were known internally, also told Gizmodo that they were instructed to artificially “inject” selected stories into the trending news module, even if they weren’t popular enough to warrant inclusion—or in some cases weren’t trending at all. The former curators, all of whom worked as contractors, also said they were directed not to include news about Facebook itself in the trending module.
In other words, Facebook’s news section operates like a traditional newsroom, reflecting the biases of its workers and the institutional imperatives of the corporation. Imposing human editorial values onto the lists of topics an algorithm spits out is by no means a bad thing—but it is in stark contrast to the company’s claims that the trending module simply lists “topics that have recently become popular on Facebook.”
These new allegations emerged after Gizmodo last week revealed details about the inner workings of Facebook’s trending news team—a small group of young journalists, primarily educated at Ivy League or private East Coast universities, who curate the “trending” module on the upper-right-hand corner of the site. As we reported last week, curators have access to a ranked list of trending topics surfaced by Facebook’s algorithm, which prioritizes the stories that should be shown to Facebook users in the trending section. The curators write headlines and summaries of each topic, and include links to news sites.
(Excerpt) Read more at gizmodo.com ...
FUMZ!
Shocking only that Gizmodo (or anyone else) thinks Romney and Rand Paul are “conservative” or that CPAC is “right wing.”
I’d never take Fa[r]cebook as gospel on what’s really important. Though this is pretty misleading. It’s trending among their opinionmeisters, not among their readership.
Why be shocked, lefties today tend to the extreme. Mitt Romney and Rand Paul would at most be a very poor compromise to them.
the company’s claims that the trending module simply lists “topics that have recently become popular on Facebook.”
I would think Advertisers would have a pretty good claim for FRAUD,FALSE ADVERTISING...
There is some point where Facebook turns into MySpace, and they lose a quarter of their members over a short period of time. It’s only a matter of time before we reach this stage and the stock on it tanks big-time.
Why... Facebook is lying to (or misleading) its popular audience, not its advertisers.
By the way, for the last month I look at facebook trending SPECIFICALLY to see how liberally slanted it is. Its really really bad.
Most viewers go there to see what their friends are interested in, I would hazard a guess. And lies about what is trending would hardly put a dent in that.
Now if Farcebook started to put spins on friends’ interests, people would start getting incensed.
what next, The GOP establishment endorses Hillary?
Primarily indoctrinated by Marxists in Marxist-run colleges and universities.
Remember: Nearly every teacher in this nation from pre-K through university graduate school was trained ( indoctrinated) by Marxists in Marxist-run colleges and universities. This is true for both government and private schools.
Maybe they will, once Donald tweets enough taunts at them LOL
It’s not only manipulation of what’s trending. I constantly have stories removed from my News Feed. They are USUALLY still on my Timeline, so I “share” them from there. Sometimes that doesn’t work, and sometimes they disappear from my Timeline too. They don’t like religious content or conservative.
I’ve kept “religious content” just fine. However they “flattered” me into taking a new identity as a “public figure” which meant having to refriend all my old friends... stinks.
How would they ever know unless a complete forensic audit takes place?? And since they Actively LIE to their subscribers why would it be a stretch of the imagination that they are also lying to their Advertisers FOR PROFIT OR GAIN??
Where there is smoke, there is usually fire, and I believe a few aggressive advertisers could really do some serious damage to the clown.
Yes. Usually as click bait. "Paul Ryan gets some bad news from home." Etc. If you don't click it, you don't see it.
I saw more about the "Primary Paul Ryan" movement in the past; now it seems to have gone bye-bye.
I am always amused by the online outfits that are the go-to for ABSOLUTE FINAL INTERNET TRUTH.
The “argument enders:”
“Well, it says so on absolutetruth.com so that’s that!”
I don’t know how they substantiate the viewership of the ads they sell — I’m pretty sure all they promise is showings to eyes. To find that this is being inflated would be a bombshell to their support.
However if advertisers found Facebook wasn’t rewarding their investments, said advertisers would eventually stop.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.