Facebook has been the place where people keep up with family members and friends. It’s the place people reach out to classmates from yesteryear. It’s also the place where many get their news. But revelations leave many asking: Is Facebook bias against conservatives?
According to a former Facebook worker, employees are often instructed to suppress conservative based articles from the ‘trending’ news section. It’s been said they were told to inject other stories in trending mode, even those that weren’t popular with Facebook users. They would use an injection tool promote articles. Before too long, the injected article would be the most popular thing trending because it got readers’s attention. This would often block conservative based stories. One former Facebook employee says if one news story is making front page with mainstream news sites like CNN or Fox News, they could inject it. But left-leaning groups, like Black Lives Matter, says their stories have been suppressed by the ‘trending’ section of Facebook too. Facebook released a statement denying any bias based on political sides. They emphasized their strict guidelines to achieve neutrality. They are taking these allegations so seriously they’re even reviewing their Trending Topics guidelines. According to various news media, Facebook will lend support to both Republican and Democrats conventions this summer.
If what this former Facebook worker is saying, it’s really no different than what mainstream news sites do. They choose from the many news stories that come across their desks, and choose what they think they will see. But we’re heading into the most brutal and contentious election of our lifetime, if not all time. Facebook needs to have conservatives stories trend. There are a lot of conservative Facebook users who are going to demand it. Now, more than ever, we need fair and balanced reporting and neutrality. The people deserve nothing less. Do you think Facebook is deliberately bias against conservatives?