Despite the changes, Facebook said it found no evidence of systemic political bias in its Trending Topics. Facebook is also changing the way news outlets factor into its algorithm to determine Trending Topics, saying it will "no longer rely on lists of external websites and news outlets to identify, validate or assess the importance of particular topics." Facebook says it is dropping its reliance on news outlets to help determine what gets posted as a Trending Topic on the giant social network following a backlash over a report saying it suppressed conservative views. The company found that topics could be temporarily suppressed if news outlets weren't reporting on them enough. The company said it is also "removing the ability to assign an 'importance level' to a topic through assessment of the topic's prominence on the top-10 list of news outlets."

Source: CBC News May 23, 2016 18:45 UTC