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5/09/2016 12:34 pm  #1


Former Facebook Workers: We Routinely Suppressed Conservative News

Former Facebook Workers: We Routinely Suppressed Conservative News


Read the full story at the web site
[url]http://Former Facebook Workers: We Routinely Suppressed Conservative News[/url]

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 weekrevealed 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. The section, which launched in 2014, constitutes some of the most powerful real estate on the internet and helps dictate what news Facebook’s users—167 million in the US alone—are reading at any given moment.“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 scrutinizing conservative groups; Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker; popular conservative news aggregator the Drudge Report; Chris Kyle, the former Navy SEAL who was murdered in 2013; and former Fox News contributor Steven Crowder. “I believe it had a chilling effect on conservative news,” the former curator said.

 


 “We hold these truths to be self-evident,”  former vice president Biden said during a campaign event in Texas on Monday. "All men and women created by — you know, you know, the thing.”

 
 

5/10/2016 4:29 am  #2


Re: Former Facebook Workers: We Routinely Suppressed Conservative News

None of the "sources" are named. How do I know that the people that the unnamed former journalist interviewed actually even worked for FB?
How do I know that they exist at all?

This seems more like a victim fantasy than a news story.

Last edited by Goose (5/10/2016 4:58 am)


We live in a time in which decent and otherwise sensible people are surrendering too easily to the hectoring of morons or extremists. 
 

5/10/2016 9:56 am  #3


Re: Former Facebook Workers: We Routinely Suppressed Conservative News

Gee, a news aggregation site that generates income through advertising determining its editorial content.

Matt Drudge would be shocked!!! 

Last edited by TheLagerLad (5/10/2016 9:57 am)


I think you're going to see a lot of different United States of America over the next three, four, or eight years. - President Donald J. Trump
 

5/10/2016 10:24 am  #4


Re: Former Facebook Workers: We Routinely Suppressed Conservative News

Does FB have any duty to provide content that is equally balanced between conservative and liberal opinion?
I use it to keep in contact with old friends and extended family. I also follow food and travel sites.
Any overtly political stuff I block.
Get your news from a news site!

I do think it's a shame that you cannot find conservative viewpoints on the internet.
And, that's not just me. My friends at Redstate, Legal insurrection, and Breitbart agree! 


We live in a time in which decent and otherwise sensible people are surrendering too easily to the hectoring of morons or extremists. 
 

5/10/2016 11:06 am  #5


Re: Former Facebook Workers: We Routinely Suppressed Conservative News

TheLagerLad wrote:

Gee, a news aggregation site that generates income through advertising determining its editorial content.

Matt Drudge would be shocked!!! 

Good One !  


"Do not confuse motion and progress, A rocking horse keeps moving but does not make any progress"
 
 

5/10/2016 11:52 am  #6


Re: Former Facebook Workers: We Routinely Suppressed Conservative News

Our United States Senate is an effing disgrace.....

Senate GOP Launches Inquiry Into Facebook’s News Curation

The US Senate Commerce Committee—which has jurisdiction over media issues, consumer protection issues, and internet communication—has sent a letter to Mark Zuckerberg requesting answers to questions it has on its trending topics section. The letter comes after Gizmodo on Monday reported on allegations by one former news curator, who worked for Facebook as a contractor, that the curation team routinely suppressed or blacklisted topics of interest to conservatives. That report also included allegations from several former curators that they used a “injection tool” to add or bump stories onto the trending module.

The letter asks that Facebook “arrange for your staff including employees responsible for trending topics to brief committee staff on this issue.” The letter was signed by Chairman for the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Senator John Thune (R) from South Dakota.

Forget about that pesky Supreme Court vacancy that we need to fill, there's slanted political viewpoints on the internet that need to be dealt with, post-haste!!!


I think you're going to see a lot of different United States of America over the next three, four, or eight years. - President Donald J. Trump
 

5/10/2016 12:11 pm  #7


Re: Former Facebook Workers: We Routinely Suppressed Conservative News

Sadly, Lager nailed this one.

 

5/10/2016 12:39 pm  #8


Re: Former Facebook Workers: We Routinely Suppressed Conservative News

Another good one, Lager !  You are "on fire" today !! 

 


"Do not confuse motion and progress, A rocking horse keeps moving but does not make any progress"
 
 

5/10/2016 12:53 pm  #9


Re: Former Facebook Workers: We Routinely Suppressed Conservative News

Seriously, does ANYONE really use the Trending Section of Facebook to get their news ?  Till I read this I NEVER really paid much attention to it. 

BTW, the Trending Section actually has a post about this very subject so they certainly did NOT censor that ! 

Now as far as getting Conservative Info, there certainly are NO FILTERS or CENSORSHIP about what I wind up getting bombarded with from "friends" of what their conservative or liberal weird views are (usually cut and pastes).. Some get so bad I un-friend them. There are ways without un-friending to take a post and say "I don't want to see any more like this"  but it is only slightly effective. 

My complaint with Facebook is that there are not better ways to filter out (for oneself) certain content. I would actually appreciate MORE WAYS to censor what I wind up getting. 


"Do not confuse motion and progress, A rocking horse keeps moving but does not make any progress"
 
 

5/10/2016 1:27 pm  #10


Re: Former Facebook Workers: We Routinely Suppressed Conservative News

I hope that Zuckerberg tells the Senate to go pound sand.


We live in a time in which decent and otherwise sensible people are surrendering too easily to the hectoring of morons or extremists. 
 

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