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Facebook To Revamp Trending Topics Selection Process

It will make changes despite an investigation that found its trending topics reviewers did not suppress politically conservative topics.

By Tom Brant
May 23, 2016
Facebook Trending Section

Facebook will no longer rely on external web sites and news outlets to determine which topics to include in its trending news section, the company announced today.

In a letter to Sen. John Thune, chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, the company outlined the changes that it would make to its trending topics selection process in the wake of a two-week investigation following allegations that it regularly suppresses coverage of politically conservative news topics.

Previously, the trending topics review team would rely partially on RSS feeds from online media outlets, including The New York Times, BBC News, the Drudge Report, and the Huffington Post. Going forward, it will rely only on algorithms that scan Facebook posts for an unusually high number of mentions of a particular topic. Facebook said that relying only on its users' posts will reduce the possibility of missing a story that the media does not cover.

Besides eliminating its reliance on media outlets, Facebook also said it would make changes to its reviewer training program and add more controls and oversight. Reviewers are third-party employees hired by Accenture under a contract with Facebook.

Despite prompting changes to the review process, Facebook said its investigation did not find that the trending topics section deemphasized politically conservative viewpoints.

"The only clear trend revealed by the analysis was that moderate topics—that is, those that are popular across the political spectrum—are approved and boosted at a higher rate than liberal or conservative topics," it said in the letter, signed by General Counsel Colin Stretch.

Sen. Thune raised concerns two weeks ago that Facebook's use of an algorithm to assemble its trending topics section could mislead users. Following today's letter from Facebook, he said he was satisfied with the social networking company's actions.

"Facebook has recognized the limitations of efforts to keep information systems fully free from potential bias, which lends credibility to its findings," he said in a statement.

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About Tom Brant

Deputy Managing Editor

I’m the deputy managing editor of the hardware team at PCMag.com. Reading this during the day? Then you've caught me testing gear and editing reviews of laptops, desktop PCs, and tons of other personal tech. (Reading this at night? Then I’m probably dreaming about all those cool products.) I’ve covered the consumer tech world as an editor, reporter, and analyst since 2015.

I’ve evaluated the performance, value, and features of hundreds of personal tech devices and services, from laptops to Wi-Fi hotspots and everything in between. I’ve also covered the launches of dozens of groundbreaking technologies, from hyperloop test tracks in the desert to the latest silicon from Apple and Intel.

I've appeared on CBS News, in USA Today, and at many other outlets to offer analysis on breaking technology news.

Before I joined the tech-journalism ranks, I wrote on topics as diverse as Borneo's rain forests, Middle Eastern airlines, and Big Data's role in presidential elections. A graduate of Middlebury College, I also have a master's degree in journalism and French Studies from New York University.

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