Facebook refutes allegations of manipulating 'Trending Topics'

Washington, May 13: Amid allegations that a team of editors at Facebook is manipulating the popular “Trending Topics” by “injecting” selected articles to promote a particular perspective, the social media giant has reiterated that it does not allow or advise its reviewers to discrimite against sources of any political origin. A report in technology website Gizmodo had accused Facebook of an editorial bias against conservative news organisations which led to a call for a congressiol inquiry from Setor John Thune (Rep) from South Dakota and chair of US Sete commerce committee which has jurisdiction over media issues. The panel has also sent a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg asking for answers related to the “Trending Topics” row. “Yes. We take these reports very seriously and will continue to investigate the allegations. We have found no evidence to date that ‘Trending Topics’ was successfully manipulated but will continue the review of all our practices,” posted Justin Osofsky, vice president, global operations, Facebook, on Thursday. (IANS)