Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg meets with influential conservatives after claim of political bias in trending topics feature

An article in The Washington Post about a report that Facebook downplays conservative news subjects in its “trending topics” feature quotes Mark Bartholomew, professor of law, who said the company’s algorithms are “not transparent.” In the Silicon Valley view, Facebook is a democratic tool in which the most-liked articles rise to the top, he said. “There’s some truth to that, but also some anti-democratic stuff going on.”

He also was quoted in an article in the Los Angeles Times. Bartholomew said there needs to be greater public awareness that Facebook is not a neutral platform. “The more we think about Facebook as a business run by people with their own biases and motivations and not simply a neutral conduit for information, the better,” he said.

Read more:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/05/19/facebooks-mark-zuckerberg-meets-with-influential-conservatives-amid-concern-over-political-bias-in-trending-topics-feature/

http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-facebook-conservative-leaders-20160517-snap-story.html