INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Facebook is discontinuing its troubled
"trending" section, the social network announced Friday.The section, which launched in 2014, was designed to help people quickly find
interesting topics on Facebook
But Alex Hardiman, the company's head of news products, said in a blog post that users are shifting to consuming news on their phones and
through video."So we're exploring new ways to help people stay informed about timely, breaking news that matters to them, while making sure
the news they see on Facebook is from trustworthy and quality sources," she said.The trending section had been a headache for the company
It amassed notoriety in 2016 after a Gizmodo report that detailed allegations of the trending team suppressing conservative news
The backlash from conservatives led Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg to extend an olive branch, holding a meeting at his company
headquarters with more than two dozen conservative figures including Glenn Beck, Dana Perino and Tucker Carlson
Facebook eventually fired the editors on the trending team, replacing them with an automated process.But the curation of trending news in
the absence of human oversight led to more blowback and embarrassment
The algorithms promoted 9/11 conspiracy theories, a false story about then-Fox News host Megyn Kelly, and a parody news article about
magical iPhone features, which some say were early indicators of Facebook's misinformation problem
The company continued to modify the section, but Facebook said that over time it became less useful to users.Media analysts have argued that
Facebook's reaction to claims of anti-conservative bias led the company to take a more lax approach to the Russian disinformation campaign
Facebook continues to face criticism from right-leaning circles
In recent months, Facebook has launched several initiatives to address accusations of political bias, misinformation and transparency in
political advertising.The company has also been reeling from the Cambridge Analytica scandal
Lawmakers in Congress and in Europe have raised the possibility of drafting new regulations to address Facebook's privacy violations
Some critics have even called on antitrust officials to break the company up.In Friday's announcement, Facebook also said that 80 publishers
are testing a "breaking news" label that they can pin to their articles in the news feed
The company is simultaneously experimenting with a breaking-news notification, a section dedicated to breaking local news, and a video
feature for American users to watch live coverage and weekly reports.Hardiman said that Facebook will remove the trending section next
week.(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by TheIndianSubcontinent staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
