Facebook Denies Censoring Conservative News

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Facebook is denying recent allegations that it routinely censored conservative news. Honestly, I think this is the best reason to use an algorithm for trending news. When stuff like this crops up, you can blame the algorithm, pledge to fix it and then move on with business as usual. ;)

"We take allegations of bias very seriously. Facebook is a platform for people and perspectives from across the political spectrum. Trending Topics shows you the popular topics and hashtags that are being talked about on Facebook," the company said in an emailed statement. "These guidelines do not permit the suppression of political perspectives. Nor do they permit the prioritization of one viewpoint over another or one news outlet over another. These guidelines do not prohibit any news outlet from appearing in Trending Topics."
 
"The amount of effort required to refute bullshit is a magnitude bigger than to produce it."

The previous post you made on this topic had the title
Former Facebook Workers: We Routinely Suppressed Conservative News
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Where in fact the article you linked to never once mentioned the word conservative, or politics at all. This is incredibly misleading and untrue. Of course Facebook is going to deny this, because there is no basis for it.

Accusations like that need proof. Journalistic integrity is rare these days, and clickbait headlines like these are big money whether they are true or not.
 
I don't know if it's true or not, but the first article, AIR, essentially said they didn't use, for example, news from Breitbart or WND unless it hit mainstream news sites. AFAIC, that's just good editing. I don't know much about Breitbart, but WND always struck me as a very biased source. There are a TON of left wing sites that also aren't used (and thank the gods for that). I really don't want a newsfeed from wingnut publications...I already see too many reposts from friends.
 
nilepez said:
I don't know if it's true or not, but the first article, AIR, essentially said they didn't use, for example, news from Breitbart or WND unless it hit mainstream news sites. AFAIC, that's just good editing. I don't know much about Breitbart, but WND always struck me as a very biased source. There are a TON of left wing sites that also aren't used (and thank the gods for that). I really don't want a newsfeed from wingnut publications...I already see too many reposts from friends.
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If you want a motivation this is it. Having had like minded people hold the megaphone for decades, if a bunch of people who consider CNN unbiased and consider their views in the majority, suddenly saw alternate viewpoints and saw the scale of disagreement, they would freak and quit facebook.
 
jpm100 said:
If you want a motivation this is it. Having had like minded people hold the megaphone for decades, if a bunch of people who consider CNN unbiased and consider their views in the majority, suddenly saw alternate viewpoints and saw the scale of disagreement, they would freak and quit facebook.
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It's not that. It's that US Uncut and WND are bogus bullshit sources. They both have political agendas (left wing and right wing respectively). CNN's certainly imperfect, but in the end, their only agenda is ratings. I'd prefer the old system, where the networks did the news as a public service, but that went away when Cable News became popular.

I may agree with most of Uncut's editor's political beliefs, but they stretch the truth so much that it embarrasses me to be on the left or they leave out context that's important. It's like Rush Limbaugh's left wing twin started a publication and like him, they just toss out meat to the base to rile them up.
 
The funny thing to me is that the vast majority of the people I know on face book are very conservative, but I just do not bother to look at it often these days.
 
Whenever it's not your point of view dominating any given site, it's a conspiracy.

It's the sad truth of the internet that people seek out other people who will reinforce their pre-conceptions of any given story. Social media is as big a back-patting circle jerk as there ever has been in human history.

Much like we have a mysterious and vast "Liberal Media" conspiracy and "Faux News must be lies" idiocy. Just because you don't like what you see and don't agree with it, doesn't mean it's wrong. Hell the world is complicated, sometimes nobody is wrong when people disagree vehemently about something.

People work very, very hard to avoid points of view that aren't their own these days.
 
nilepez said:
CNN's certainly imperfect, but in the end, their only agenda is ratings.
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Now that's funny.
For years CNN's rating tanked, yet they continued to hire left wing hacks and call them reporters.
They always seemed to care less about ratings and more about propping up whatever Democrat was in power.
 
Conservatives making up stories of supression and persecution? That never happens!

It's like the death panel thing. Even aknowleging them is more attention than they deserve. It's not like you'll ever convince them otherwise, they just know those evil liberals are out to get them.
 
Wait... who cares.

When did facebook sign a decree they must remain neutral.

If they censor news to favor stories about Yeti, its their right. They can push what ever agenda they like can they not ? Is the US senate demanding to know what factors go into the choice of news story on foxnews.com.

What law states a public company can't have a bias anyway they like. If facebook is in the wrong for pushing "liberal" news then what happens to Fox or CNN who are in fact staffed with "journalists" who are supposed to at least act independent ethically speaking at least.

I am not sure exactly what laws are supposed to have been broken here.
 
It's Facebook's right to slant the news however they want to, but deceiving people to believe the articles are entirely based on popular opinion is where they went wrong.
DeathFromBelow said:
It's like the death panel thing. Even aknowleging them is more attention than they deserve. It's not like you'll ever convince them otherwise, they just know those evil liberals are out to get them.
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Head in sand much?

When you have a finite number of doctors and you take away cost controls, that is the inevitable conclusion. In the meantime, people die waiting to see doctors and you end up with long wait times for minor health issues. See: Canada.
 
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Rush Limbaugh Kept calling it Fake Book yesterday and says it's where people get their fake news.
 
And not a crap was given, if your getting your news from FB then your not the sharpest tack in the box anyways. FB is just a trash generator to keep the simple minds misinformed oblivious of the truth happening all around them. To use FB for contacting friends is nice but for news get a grip. Unfortunatly far to many believe everything they see and do not do the due diligence and find out the truth for themselves, hence the reason we have a terrorist as president and a treasonous traitor, a socialist who wants to double the debt and an idiot running for president says a lot about the current state of our nation.
 
nysmo said:
Yeah, is this even a thing? Please tell me people dont get news from Facebook.
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Sadly, it's true. Studies I have seen indicate that a large number of people rely on social media for their source of news.
 
sleepeeg3 said:
It's Facebook's right to slant the news however they want to, but deceiving people to believe the articles are entirely based on popular opinion is where they went wrong.

Head in sand much?

When you have a finite number of doctors and you take away cost controls, that is the inevitable conclusion. In the meantime, people die waiting to see doctors and you end up with long wait times for minor health issues. See: Canada.
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You do understand that the US has the exact same bodies (hundreds of them, at insurance companies) but with far more power over each patient, right? You should also be aware that the USA is the only "modern" country in the world that is seeing decreases in life expectancy based on finances, the only one. The lowest standard of health care in the entire western world coupled with the most expensive healthcare in the entire world. Canada's system is a complete cluster, elective surgery wait times can be six months, that's ridiculous. That's still better than not being allowed in the queue because of your bank balance. Canada has the second least efficient system on earth, it's four times as efficient as the American system today.

I mean, I get it, it's better to continue to lay your economy to waste than to see someone that is not you get something they need without directly paying for it. However there comes a point where pragmatism has to push idealism off the table or systems just continue to fail, much like the US medical system has been declining for over thirty years now. There was a recent jump in quality due to greatly loathed legislation, but it's still the worst system in the first world.
 
Comixbooks said:
Rush Limbaugh Kept calling it Fake Book yesterday and says it's where people get their fake news.
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He probably confused his own radio show with facebook. Also who the hell gets their news from facebook? I don't get why "conservatives" love to pretend(or worse actually believe) everyone is out to get them.
 
Twisted Kidney said:
You do understand that the US has the exact same bodies (hundreds of them, at insurance companies) but with far more power over each patient, right? You should also be aware that the USA is the only "modern" country in the world that is seeing decreases in life expectancy based on finances, the only one. The lowest standard of health care in the entire western world coupled with the most expensive healthcare in the entire world. Canada's system is a complete cluster, elective surgery wait times can be six months, that's ridiculous. That's still better than not being allowed in the queue because of your bank balance. Canada has the second least efficient system on earth, it's four times as efficient as the American system today.

I mean, I get it, it's better to continue to lay your economy to waste than to see someone that is not you get something they need without directly paying for it. However there comes a point where pragmatism has to push idealism off the table or systems just continue to fail, much like the US medical system has been declining for over thirty years now. There was a recent jump in quality due to greatly loathed legislation, but it's still the worst system in the first world.
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Socialists' catch 22 - flood the nation with leeching, illegal immigrants and watch as healthcare costs skyrocket. Then claim capitalism is the problem.
 
sleepeeg3 said:
Socialists' catch 22 - flood the nation with leeching, illegal immigrants and watch as healthcare costs skyrocket. Then claim capitalism is the problem.
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Lol what? I fail to see how illegal immigrants skyrocket healthcare cost. Pretty sure illegal immigrants aren't getting hip replacements which cost 40k here but only 8k anywhere else in the developed world. Pretty sure it's lack of competition between the understandably limited suppliers of prosthesis whom lobbies to keep competition from other counties out of the US marketplace. Plus the whole fucked up nature of building networks of healthcare providers against insurers leading to an exorbitant increase in cost to deal with fraud because now we're paying 120 bucks an hour for a doctor to do paperwork half their shift. Let alone that other nations like France or Japan who don't use a single payer but instead a system which the govt covers anywhere from 50-95% of a cost of anything depending on what it is and you're liable for the rest exist to get around the sticky issue of personal liability.
 
nutzo said:
Now that's funny.
For years CNN's rating tanked, yet they continued to hire left wing hacks and call them reporters.
They always seemed to care less about ratings and more about propping up whatever Democrat was in power.
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IF they're left wing, then why does the left hate CNN almost as much as Fox? There's a rule of thumb in journalism: if the right and left complain, you're doing something right. The left wing (which is becoming more mainstream this cycle) has been bitching about CNN being conservative for at least 15 years, and right wing have been complaining that they're liberal throughout that period too.
 
Not surprised. This is why liberal politicians import immigrants from 3rd world nations en masse. They know their offspring are more likely to vote 'left' which keeps the left in power.
 
I don't go to Facebook for news, so why don't we just remove hyperlinked articles from Facebook completely? If people were relying solely on Facebook as their source of news then its their problem. Who cares if some sources were disproportionately promoted.
 
Shameless Liar said:
"The amount of effort required to refute bullshit is a magnitude bigger than to produce it."

The previous post you made on this topic had the title


Where in fact the article you linked to never once mentioned the word conservative, or politics at all. This is incredibly misleading and untrue. Of course Facebook is going to deny this, because there is no basis for it.

Accusations like that need proof. Journalistic integrity is rare these days, and clickbait headlines like these are big money whether they are true or not.
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This may come as a surprise to you but there are better articles out there outlining what facebook did. Go take a look, if you are interested.
 
Monkey God said:
This may come as a surprise to you but there are better articles out there outlining what facebook did. Go take a look, if you are interested.
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What Facebook has been doing has been known for some time. They shape what appears on everyone feed to generate clicks and revenue, and otherwise support their own ecosystem. This includes suppressing links to websites that do not play well with Facebook or support their business model.

The ONLY reason this "suppressing conservative news" business came about was because one of the websites that don't play well with Facebook is Breitbart. So of course, poor victimized conservatives took this and blew it out of proportion. They also suppress links to WorldStarHipHop... You don't see anyone batting an eyelash at that. And there are still a plethora of conservative news sources popping up on my feed.

This may come as a surprise to you, but there is no conspiracy to suppress conservative news.
 
nysmo said:
Yeah, is this even a thing? Please tell me people dont get news from Facebook.
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It most definitely is a thing. Millions of people get their news from Farcebook, its pretty disturbing.
 
NoNRG said:
I don't go to Facebook for news, so why don't we just remove hyperlinked articles from Facebook completely? If people were relying solely on Facebook as their source of news then its their problem. Who cares if some sources were disproportionately promoted.
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You may not, but some of us subscribe to news sources and that news appears on our feed. Nothing is perfect, but I"m far more likely to scroll through a list of news sites on there than I am to visit NBC, MSNBC, Fox, CNN, NYT and countless other news sites.
Shameless Liar said:
What Facebook has been doing has been known for some time. They shape what appears on everyone feed to generate clicks and revenue, and otherwise support their own ecosystem. This includes suppressing links to websites that do not play well with Facebook or support their business model.

The ONLY reason this "suppressing conservative news" business came about was because one of the websites that don't play well with Facebook is Breitbart. So of course, poor victimized conservatives took this and blew it out of proportion. They also suppress links to WorldStarHipHop... You don't see anyone batting an eyelash at that. And there are still a plethora of conservative news sources popping up on my feed.

This may come as a surprise to you, but there is no conspiracy to suppress conservative news.
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FWIW, I've seen Breitbart links on trending news pages. Not sure how often, since I generally scroll down until I find a link to a non-partisan site.
Krenum said:
It most definitely is a thing. Millions of people get their news from Farcebook, its pretty disturbing.
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IMO, it's only disturbing if you're only getting it from the list of links in that panel. I get tons of news from FB, because I follow a lot of new sites. Sure I could go to NPR's site or CNN's site or endlessly browse the NYT or WaPO sites, but why bother, when I can just look at my newsfeed and find links to the same articles on a single page?

Like it or not, virtually every media site has a FB strategy to get their news in front of potential readers.
 
DeathFromBelow said:
It's like the death panel thing. Even aknowleging them is more attention than they deserve. It's not like you'll ever convince them otherwise, they just know those evil liberals are out to get them.
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Yeah, look at this ultra-conservative site Daily Kos talking about how, um, yeah...the death panel thing was true. Here's US News and World Report if you want more moderate coverage.

You can go back to being snide and dismissive about anyone who disagrees with you now.
 
Stiletto said:
Yeah, look at this ultra-conservative site Daily Kos talking about how, um, yeah...the death panel thing was true. Here's US News and World Report if you want more moderate coverage.

You can go back to being snide and dismissive about anyone who disagrees with you now.
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That first link isn't about what you think it's about. The latter may be roughly the same, but given that it's just talking about paying docs to discuss what end of life care a patient wants (something I assumed was already covered), I don't know what the issue is. And apparently nobody else does, since the U.S. News article notes that there's really not much fanfare about it this time around...again, because they're just asking what a patient wants to do...ya know, because some people would rather spend their last 6 healthy months traveling or seeing family, rather than lying around getting Chemo....others may choose the chemo to extend their lives by a few more months.
 
sleepeeg3 said:
Socialists' catch 22 - flood the nation with leeching, illegal immigrants and watch as healthcare costs skyrocket. Then claim capitalism is the problem.
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How a little sentence can tell a great deal about the poster...!

The fact that hospitals and doctors commonly prescribe expensive and unnecessary tests has nothing to do with it. But yeah, pin it on illegals.
It used to be 'frivolous lawsuits' that right wingers used as an excuse. But now, illegals are the perfect scapegoats.

Capitalism is not the problem. Greed is the problem, and capitalism is the instrument that greed operates with.
Capitalism should work for all, but a lot are of the idea that it shouldn't apply to those in the bottom.
 
Rob94hawk said:
Not surprised. This is why liberal politicians import immigrants from 3rd world nations en masse. They know their offspring are more likely to vote 'left' which keeps the left in power.
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Import immigrant? HAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA

Make up a half assed conspiracy... quick!

What a load of tripe!
 
aShrubbery! said:
Import immigrant? HAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA

Make up a half assed conspiracy... quick!

What a load of tripe!
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Since I work in a hospital specializing in neonatology I got news for the clueless like yourself, it's not a conspiracy.

Especially since we have at least 10 sick anchor babies on Medicaid per week on the unit.

And then there are the pregnant ones that fly in on a visa. Welcome to real life that doesn't come censored from the liberal media.
 
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