Conservatives Accuse Facebook of Political Bias (original) (raw)

Technology|Conservatives Accuse Facebook of Political Bias

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/10/technology/conservatives-accuse-facebook-of-political-bias.html

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Donald Trump at a rally in April. Politicians increasingly share their views through social media.Credit...Damon Winter/The New York Times

May 9, 2016

Facebook scrambled on Monday to respond to a new and startling line of attack: accusations of political bias.

The outcry was set off by a report on Monday morning by the website Gizmodo, which said that Facebook’s team in charge of the site’s “trending” list had intentionally suppressed articles from conservative news sources. The social network uses the trending feature to indicate the most popular news articles of the day to users.

Facebook denied the allegations after a backlash — from both conservative and liberal critics — erupted. “It is beyond disturbing to learn that this power is being used to silence viewpoints and stories that don’t fit someone else’s agenda,” read a statement from the Republican National Committee. “NOT LEANING IN… LEANING LEFT!” blared the top story on The Drudge Report, a widely read website.

The journalist Glenn Greenwald, hardly a conservative ally, weighed in on Twitter: “Aside from fueling right-wing persecution, this is a key reminder of dangers of Silicon Valley controlling content.” And Alexander Marlow, the editor in chief of Breitbart News, a conservative-leaning publication, said the report confirmed “what conservatives have long suspected.”

Facebook, in response, says that it follows rigorous guidelines “to ensure consistency and neutrality” and that it works to be inclusive of all perspectives. “We take allegations of bias very seriously,” a Facebook spokeswoman said in a statement. “Facebook is a platform for people and perspectives from across the political spectrum.”

The back-and-forth highlights the extent to which Facebook has now muscled its way into America’s political conversation — and the risks that the company faces as it becomes a central force in news consumption and production.

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