Potential trending topics are identified by an algorithm, or formula, Facebook said, then reviewed by a “Trending Topics” team. The Gizmodo story triggered a reaction on social media, with several journalists and commentators raising concerns about alleged bias, and prompted a U.S. senate inquiry. In a post published to Facebook’s media relations section on Thursday, a senior company official outlined its “Trending Topics” guidelines at length. Facebook on Thursday emphasized that it does not permit its employees to block news stories from its “Trending Topics” list based on political bias, amid a controversy over how the social media superpower selects what news it displays. The social media company, whose reach is global, had over a billion daily active users on average in March, according to statistics the company posted to its newsroom.

Source: Hindustan Times May 12, 2016 16:26 UTC