With the brouhaha this week about how Facebook’s editorial team has been manipulating the Facebook Trending Topics to prevent certain types of stories from seeing the light of day on the highly influential sidebar, the Facebook team has been pretty busy responding, even addressing governmental inquiries about the potential manipulation.
While Facebook VP of Search Tom Stocky has already provided an initial response, with the news still continuing throughout the week, it was time for Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to stand up and make an official statement.
And he has.
As Zuckerberg states, the objective of Facebook is to give everyone a voice. Trending Topics is part of the platform for all voices to be heard. Contractors involved in promoting stories to the Trending Topics are required to follow rigorous procedures to ensure there is no slant or bias in the visibility of those stories. However, due to the allegations, Facebook has launched an investigation, which to date, has found no evidence that these claims are true.
But that’s not all. The suppression of the conservative voice has encouraged Zuckerberg to go further and discuss the matter directly with leading conservatives and others in the political space, effectively opening the dialogue to get the right feedback to ensure that Facebook continues to serve all voices.
The full text of Zuckerberg’s message is below:
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