Facebook tools suppressed traffic of conservative websites: Report

As social media giant Facebook faces a barrage of criticism from US lawmakers and other non-government organisations over the handling of internal research, another controversy sparked after a media report revealed it has suppressed the traffic of websites considered conservative. According to the new report revealed by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), the social media giant deployed two tools in order to crush the traffic of websites considered 'conservative', however, the report mentioned it was not the company's intention.

Notably, this was the second revelation by the WSJ after publishing stories about the ill-handling of internal research that led to a debate over the wrong intent of social media platforms globally. According to the journal that learnt the impact of two tools on publishers, it observed the tool act negatively on those websites considered as the 'most conservative'. The observers noted that if these two tools were removed, it would benefit some of the publishers like the Washington Times, Breitbart, Western Journal, and Epoch Times. As per the report, Washington Times’ traffic would increase by 18% and Western Journal by 16%. 

Facebook tools used in 2016 Presidential elections

Further, the report said the social media giant also used a tool called 'Sparing Sharing' during the 2016 Presidential election. It had helped Facebook in removing 'hype posters' or accounts that post frequently. The tool perceives these people (hype posters) were spreading false or incendiary information. According to the researchers, another tool-- 'Informed Engagement' was used widely by the social media giant in order to reduce the reach of posts that were more likely to be shared. Further, the report added that the tool impacted heavily on sites considered to be 'conservative' in 2019. "We could face significant backlash for having ‘experimented’ with distribution at the expense of conservative publishers," Washinton Times quoted one of the researchers who wrote in an internal memo reviewed by Wall Street Journal.

Facebook's recent controversy

This was not the end of the controversy for the social media giant. Recently, a data scientist, Frances Haugen - the whistleblower, who previously worked with Facebook revealed how the social media giant prefered its profit over the public good. According to the '60 Minutes' interview, she said the founder and CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, has always preferred the company's interests over the social evil. "Facebook, over and over again, has shown it chooses profit over safety," said Haugen, who worked at the popular search engine Google and Pinterest before joining Facebook some two years ago.

(Image: Unsplash/AP)