Facebook executive denies allegations of anti-conservative censorship
On Monday, the tech site Gizmodo caused quite a stir with an article alleging anti-conservative political manipulation at Facebook's Trending Topics feature, citing unidentified former Facebook employees. Late Monday, Tom Stocky, the Facebook vice president who oversees the Trending Topics team, hit back in a Facebook post. "We take these reports extremely seriously, and have found no evidence that the anonymous allegations are true," he wrote. He referred to the anonymous former team members as "Facebook contractors," and said that what they alleged to have done is implausible, if not impossible:
Stocky also denied the Gizmodo allegations that Trending Topics added topics with a liberal bent, saying that his team looked into the charge that Facebook "artificially forced #BlackLivesMatter to trend," and they "found that it is untrue." You can read the entire post at Facebook.
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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
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