Facebook Declares 'Neutrality'

Facebook announced that it will not allow its employees to alter trending news based on their political interests. This announcement, published in Facebook's media section, was a response to a report from Gizmodo which cited a former employee claiming that the company's staff regularly censors news appealing to conservative audiences and 'unnaturally' manipulates the list of most-read content. This report sparked heated discussions among users of the social network as well as several journalists and political analysts, some of whom called for the U.S. Senate to investigate these allegations. Facebook, one of the largest social media networks, had over a billion visitors last month. However, Facebook denied these accusations, stating that 'Facebook neither allows its employees nor promotes discrimination against any political source.' Justin Osofsky, Facebook's Vice President of Global Operations, added that they use a system of checks and balances in selecting their most important news, regardless of where they fall in ideological discussions. Facebook further explained the algorithm used to select trending news, stating that after selection by the algorithm, the trending team reviews the news. However, the editor of Gizmodo reacted to Facebook's response, saying that their statements do not contradict the report they prepared. Republican Senator John Thune stated that this is a serious accusation and Facebook must be prepared to respond. Thune remarked that 'any action taken by a neutral and inclusive social network to censor or bias political discourse is a form of abuse of power and contrary to the values of a free internet.'