Saturday, 27 August 2016

Facebook overhauls Trending feature after bias claims

Facebook said the changes would allow "our team to make fewer individual decisions" on topics (Getty Image)
Social media giant Facebook has overhauled the Trending feature on its site to make posts more automated after claims of left-wing bias.

Facebook's 1.7 billion users see news stories and topics picked using a mixture of AI and human input.

Under the changes, descriptions of stories are no longer written by editorial staff, the company said.

Earlier this year Facebook was accused of suppressing conservative views, prompting complaints from Republicans.

A former journalist who worked for the company had alleged that Facebook workers "routinely suppressed news stories of interest to conservative readers".

In a blog post, the company said an internal investigation found no evidence of systematic bias.

Facebook shows changes to its Trending feature
Facebook unveiled the changes in a blog post (Facebook)
But Facebook said it was making the changes to allow "our team to make fewer individual decisions about topics".

Users will still see personalised news, but the wording will be simplified and entries will focus on how many people are talking about them.

Staff will remain involved to ensure posts are still topical and based on news events.

"Facebook is a platform for all ideas, and we're committed to maintaining Trending as a way for people to access a breadth of ideas and commentary about a variety of topics," the company said.

As their user bases grow, tech firms like Facebook have faced increasing scrutiny over whether their platforms are neutral.

Emmylite

Author & Editor

I am a music lover, producer, critic, social media expert and also the editor and author @ My Search Lyrics. Working @ DBliss Media. Follow Me Twitter @Emmylite

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Recent Lyrics


Privacy Policy | Terms and Condition | Disclaimer | Contact Us

Copyrights © 2017 My Kranchar - Designed by DBliss Media Software Dept. In Collaboration With