Technology is on the rise and one of the main platforms of communication that has been rising over the last decade is social media, with Facebook arising as one of the most popular social media sites. Facebook has constantly undergone changes since its introduction and one of the more recent changes involved sharing with users trending topics, via a sidebar on their homepage.
However, Facebook has recently been embroiled in controversy, as former Facebook employees claimed that they were regularly told to suppress conservative news in favor of liberal news on the trending topics sidebar. The sources spoke under anonymity to protect themselves from backlash from Facebook.
Inevitably, Facebook responded after the report created a media firestorm. The social media company claimed that there was no truth to the report and that the trending topics are selected via a computer generated list, with humans curating the list to remove and junk or spam topics.
Of course, this doesn’t stop people and analysts from arguing over the ramifications of such actions. If Facebook indeed told employees to suppress conservative news, then it is a violation of a user’s intellectual freedom because they are unable to see certain types of news. This would also follow along with the “leftist media agenda” that conservatives have so often complained of.
Right now Facebook does not look good because of this damaging report. Social media is playing a larger role in society today and news as well, which has led many people to worry about the power that those in Silicon Valley have over the technology that everyone uses. One can only hope that the powers that be are not abusing their power, and that everyone is getting the opportunity to view whatever news they wish.
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