Facebook ‘Trending’ List Skewed by Individual Judgment, Not Institutional Bias

‘Trending Topics’ began as a tiny experiment for Facebook, but has a swollen into a national headache.

The company faces allegations of intentionally suppressing conservative news from appearing on Trending Topics. In a rough-and-tumble presidential election year in which social media is playing an increasingly large role, some Republican leaders say they have lost trust in Facebook’s ability to maintain impartiality as a communication and news platform. An examination of Trending Topics, based on interviews with current and former Facebook employees and a demonstration of the curator tools, found that Facebook’s employees were not directed to squelch conservative news on the site, nor would that be easily accomplished by a staff member who wished to do so. Instead, these people said, Trending Topics was a fledgling, ill-managed group — made up largely of recent college graduates with little work experience — where individual judgment of news was encouraged. That led to inconsistencies in how the most popular stories were presented, along with departures from the team, eventually landing the group in the controversy that spotlights Facebook’s huge role in the type of information people see every day.