“Facebook must answer these serious allegations,” said the chairman of the Senate commerce committee of reports the company gave less prominence to stories from right-wing media outlets.
Jonathan Nackstrand / AFP / Getty Images
A U.S. Senate committee on Tuesday demanded answers from Facebook about the social networking site's alleged anti-conservative bias in selecting stories to appear in its "Trending Topics" column.
It comes after Gizmodo published a report citing several former Facebook "news curators" who said they were instructed to "inject" certain stories into the influential "trending" section — even if they weren't actually trending — and to suppress others, usually catering to a liberal bias.
The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation on Tuesday sent a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, asking if his news curators engaged in "politically motivated manipulation."
"Facebook must answer these serious allegations and hold those responsible to account if there has been political bias in the dissemination of trending news," said Sen. John Thune, the committee's Republican chairman, in a statement. "Any attempt by a neutral and inclusive social media platform to censor or manipulate political discussion is an abuse of trust and inconsistent with the values of an open Internet."
The Senate letter seeks answers from Facebook on multiple questions, including requests for details on the procedures by which news curators include stories in the Trending Topics column, which is said to be influential because of its prominent placement on the website's home page.
Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BuzzFeed News on Tuesday, but the company's vice president who oversees the Trending Topics column, Tom Stocky, said Monday they had "found no evidence that the anonymous allegations are true."
"There are rigorous guidelines in place for the review team to ensure consistency and neutrality," Stocky wrote in a Facebook post. "These guidelines do not permit the suppression of political perspective."
This is a developing news story. Check back for updates or follow BuzzFeed News on Twitter.
Read the Senate Committee letter:
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