More evidence has surfaced to support Gawker's two recent reports that claimed
editors manipulate the trending news and a few
other aspects on Facebook. The Guardian, citing leaked documents it obtained, reports that the topics one sees on Facebook are
determined on a number of factors including "engagement, timeliness, Pages you've liked and your location." From the report:
But the documents show that the company relies heavily on the intervention of a small editorial team to determine what makes its "trending module" headlines -- the list of news topics that shows up on the side of the browser window on Facebook's desktop version. The company backed away from a pure-algorithm approach in 2014 after criticism that it had not included enough coverage of unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, in users' feeds. The guidelines show human intervention -- and therefore editorial decisions -- at almost every stage of Facebook's trending news operation, a team that at one time was as few as 12 people.Sam Biddle of Gawker, wrote:
Never trust what a company tells you, on/off record -- FB straight up lied to Recode last year. He adds: unless they're under oath a company like Facebook has every incentive to lie about how it operates. It's
not illegal to lie to a reporter!"
Update: 05/12 20:49 GMT by
M : Facebook has published a blog post in which it explains
how Trending Topics on its platform works. The company insists that there is no discrimination against sources of any political origin.
Seriously...
By JustNiz
•
2016-May-12 14:40
• Score: 5, Insightful
• Thread
Anyone who uses Facebook as their primary news source deserves all they get.
Re:HU-Man?
By schwit1
•
2016-May-12 15:00
• Score: 4, Insightful
• Thread
"Who was deciding that not "enough" people were posting about it to make the newsfeeds....?" That would be the black lies matter cabal.
Tech can have a political dimension
By Anonymous Coward
•
2016-May-12 16:20
• Score: 5, Interesting
• Thread
Slashdot is News for Nerds. Yet often has political articles because of editors and votes.
Every now and then, technology intersects strongly with politics, such as when restrictions on information or technology or abuse of either are enshrined in law. Such is the case with surveillance, global warming, GMO labelling, workplace non-discrimination, and many other topics that hold huge interest among a large number of technology-oriented people.
When there is news in such areas, Slashdot would be remiss not to report on them. You may not like the majority opinion in such threads (and indeed the majority often has it ass backwards), but the reports are often right on topic as News for Nerds.
The solution for your lack of interest in such topics is so simple that I'm surprised that it didn't occur to you: just don't read them.
Re:Shit me hard with a stick, people are dumb.
By tsotha
•
2016-May-12 16:31
• Score: 4, Insightful
• Thread
Republicans don't care what you do with your reproductive organs. But when you're hosting another human being, we think that human being deserves some legal protection. Yes, that literally is to "protect the children".
You know what would happen without humans?
By SuricouRaven
•
2016-May-12 18:15
• Score: 3
• Thread
Algorithm only:
- Ten coolest cat photos of 2015
- Scientists prove vaccines cause autism
- The global warming hoax debunked.
- See celebrity sex tapes online!
- Obama's secret communist manifesto revealed.
- 30 Signs That An Eastern European Girl Isn’t Relationship Material
- Russia's nuclear ambitions and how to prepare with our five-gallon soup buckets.
- Is the dress blue or gold?
- Why the homosexual mafia is after YOUR child!
There's a reason facebook has a human team moderating the feed. Without it you'd get what people are actually doing online, and people are stupid. It'd be a mixture of inane tripe, conspiracy theories and scams, topped off by the occasional article based on blatant sexism, racism or homophobia and, of course, a bit of porn.