• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

The millennial generation has split, new Fed research shows: Those over 35 are edging toward boomer-style wealth, while everyone else falls behind

2

Mark Cuban says he has the solution to growing income inequality, and it's to reward every employee—from CEO to janitor—with company stock

3

Scott Bessent casually says the U.S. has more than $1 trillion in gold—and that it doesn’t matter for the dollar

1

The millennial generation has split, new Fed research shows: Those over 35 are edging toward boomer-style wealth, while everyone else falls behind

2

Mark Cuban says he has the solution to growing income inequality, and it's to reward every employee—from CEO to janitor—with company stock

3

Scott Bessent casually says the U.S. has more than $1 trillion in gold—and that it doesn’t matter for the dollar
Commentary

Here’s Why Everyone Overreacted to Facebook’s ‘Liberal Bias’ Controversy

By
Clay Calvert
Clay Calvert
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Clay Calvert
Clay Calvert
Down Arrow Button Icon
May 24, 2016, 1:33 PM ET
An Illustration of Facebook logo, on May 9, 2016. Facebook won a court case in China against Zhongshan Pearl River Drink Factory for using the name face book. The result of the case is said to show that China is easing its attitude towards the social network which is officially banned in the country. (Photo by Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
An Illustration of Facebook logo, on May 9, 2016. Facebook won a court case in China against Zhongshan Pearl River Drink Factory for using the name face book. The result of the case is said to show that China is easing its attitude towards the social network which is officially banned in the country. (Photo by Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images)Photograph by NurPhoto via Getty Images
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Facebook has announced changes to the way it runs its Trending Topics feed, following an internal investigation that looked into political bias at the social networking site. While the company said it found no evidence of bias after reports accusing Facebook of routinely suppressing conservative news from its trending news section, Facebook said there will be more training for staff and the feed will no longer depend on a list of news organizations to validate subjects.

Facebook (FB) may be closing the chapter on its liberal bias controversy, but it’s worth taking a look at why so many were upset in the first place. After all, Facebook is a business operation first and foremost – one that thrives on the number of users it has and the data it collects from, not from serving some larger or more noble greater good, its own rhetoric notwithstanding. Were we really so naïve as to think that Facebook was somehow miraculously a bias-free news source? But more on that later. For now, here’s why the controversy, perhaps, some people seem to hit so many nerves.

First, a key concern for many is transparency or the lack thereof. As Emily Bell wrote in March for Columbia Journalism Review, “social media and platform companies took over what publishers couldn’t have built even if they wanted to. Now the news is filtered through algorithms and platforms which are opaque and unpredictable.” And then there is the mysterious human role – the one Facebook’s news curators play in shaping those algorithms and culling through the output to determine what trends.

 

 

Second, others fear the vast power and immense size of Facebook and argue that the social media behemoth should be regulated more like a common carrier, akin to telephone companies that cannot censor the messages. Earlier this month, U.S. Sen. John Thune (R – S.D.), the chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, vaguely intimated as much in a letter to Zuckerberg, writing that “with over a billion daily active users on average, Facebook has enormous influence on users’ perceptions of current events, including political perspectives.” Thune demanded that Zuckerberg answer five questions regarding how it chooses trending topics, but on Monday Facebook’s general counsel responded with a lengthy letter stating that the company’s “investigation revealed no systematic political bias” and that “rates of ‘boosting,’ ‘blacklisting,’ and accepting topics have been virtually identical for liberal and conservative topics.”

For all the handwringing over Facebook’s trending topics, we really just need to get over it. Objectivity in journalism is a myth and always has been. Subjective decisions are made everyday in traditional newsrooms across the country about which stories to cover, how many inches those stories merit, where those stories are placed – on the front page or buried on A14 – and who gets to write them.

The journalists chosen to write them, in turn, pick the sources they seek out for comments and quotations – typically one or two from the left and one or two from the right, each with predictable opinions, to create the illusion of balance – and decide whose quotes get more play and whose gets shorter shrift. Journalists choose the very words that make up a story, ordering and arranging them. And despite the rituals of objectivity, as Gaye Tuchman aptly called them back in 1972, that journalists engage in, the end product is a subjective creation.

So why did some somehow expect Facebook to be any different? Because machines using algorithms were supposedly more neutral than humans in identifying trends? Humans created those algorithms, and it is natural for Facebook, as a business, to want as many people to stay tuned – to use an antiquated legacy media phrase – as possible to its site. Did we truly not expect to find a man behind the curtain at the great and powerful Facebook, pulling the strings of the Oz of the news business? Gatekeepers – humans and/or machines – have forever been involved in the flow of information to the public.

The profound irony over the trending topics fracas is that, in the Internet era, we have so many different choices and options from which to obtain news and yet, for the moment, we are so obsessed with and pre-occupied by one social network. The U.S. used to have only three major television networks – and just two before ABC came along – and one, two or maybe three local newspapers to rely on for news. Add to that a couple of powerful weekly news magazines that came to the mailbox and that was really about it.

Rather than call for government inquiries about how Facebook chooses what topics trend and thereby creep closer to a First Amendment fight, people who find bias in Facebook’s choices can and should seek out their news from other sources. We cannot, after all, legislate bias out of the news business.

And there’s another reason to, in Frozen-like fashion, let it go. Do we really want or need social networks telling us what is important and what is trending? The very notion of “trending” itself is troublesome, as it reflects much larger problems with news delivery in this country. It mirrors, albeit on much more rapid timetable, the short news attention span we have and the exceedingly quick news cycles cable channels provide in an effort to keep eyeballs. An issue arises, it garners attention and then it rapidly fades away. The word “trending” suggests anything but a sustained and deliberate discussion of important issues; instead, it embodies fleeting ephemeralness of the kind that is not needed, especially during this election year.

We need to acknowledge that bias – be it by man or machine – is inherent in news and, finally, we must seek out as many different and diverse sources as possible to learn what’s going on in the world and to find out what truly matters to us, not to a news curator or an algorithm.

Clay Calvert is director of the Marion B. Brechner First Amendment Project at the University of Florida.

About the Author
By Clay Calvert
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Latest in Commentary

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • TikTok icon
  • YouTube icon

Latest in Commentary

mm
CommentaryLeadership
Michael Muthukrishna: The ‘lone genius’ myth is wrong and it’s holding back your business
By Michael MuthukrishnaJuly 23, 2026
3 hours ago
Paul Keary (L) and Mike Sutcliff (R).
CommentaryAI agents
Teneo & Thoughtworks CEOs: the AI race will be won with governance, not speed 
By Paul Keary and Mike SutcliffJuly 23, 2026
3 hours ago
marks
CommentaryNational Security
General James ‘Spider’ Marks: there’s a strategic risk hidden inside closed AI systems
By James MarksJuly 23, 2026
3 hours ago
glp
Commentaryobesity
The GLP-1 paradox: too expensive to cover, too effective to cut
By Bryan Sivak and Elina OnitskanskyJuly 23, 2026
3 hours ago
data
CommentaryData centers
The hidden cost of AI: Why your town is negotiating with Amazon and Microsoft
By Melody BirminghamJuly 23, 2026
4 hours ago
Thijn Lamers is Co-Founder and President, Noah.
Commentarystart-ups
Adyen co-founder: Europe does not need more ambition. It needs to stop hiding it
By Thijn LamersJuly 23, 2026
7 hours ago

Most Popular

The millennial generation has split, new Fed research shows: Those over 35 are edging toward boomer-style wealth, while everyone else falls behind
Real Estate
The millennial generation has split, new Fed research shows: Those over 35 are edging toward boomer-style wealth, while everyone else falls behind
By Nick LichtenbergJuly 22, 2026
22 hours ago
Mark Cuban says he has the solution to growing income inequality, and it's to reward every employee—from CEO to janitor—with company stock
Success
Mark Cuban says he has the solution to growing income inequality, and it's to reward every employee—from CEO to janitor—with company stock
By Sasha RogelbergJuly 20, 2026
3 days ago
Scott Bessent casually says the U.S. has more than $1 trillion in gold—and that it doesn’t matter for the dollar
Economy
Scott Bessent casually says the U.S. has more than $1 trillion in gold—and that it doesn’t matter for the dollar
By Sasha RogelbergJuly 22, 2026
19 hours ago
Mathematicians grapple with a ‘very rapid and very unsettling change’ as AI cracks yet another century-old problem
AI
Mathematicians grapple with a ‘very rapid and very unsettling change’ as AI cracks yet another century-old problem
By Eva RoytburgJuly 21, 2026
2 days ago
Despite a $156 million contract, Knicks star Jalen Brunson still calls his parents for financial advice any time he makes a big purchase
Success
Despite a $156 million contract, Knicks star Jalen Brunson still calls his parents for financial advice any time he makes a big purchase
By Emma BurleighJuly 21, 2026
2 days ago
OpenAI says its AI models secretly broke out of a secure test environment and hacked into AI company Hugging Face in order to cheat on an evaluation
Cybersecurity
OpenAI says its AI models secretly broke out of a secure test environment and hacked into AI company Hugging Face in order to cheat on an evaluation
By Jeremy Kahn and Emily ForliniJuly 21, 2026
2 days ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.