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Why Facebook News Can’t Escape Bias

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In case you missed the news because it wasn’t trending on Facebook, Facebook’s Trending News Team has been… in the news. Not long ago the whole department got the axe after Gizmodo reported they’d been suppressing conservative news items and sources. This caused a stir. And perhaps rightfully so: facebook is used by all stripes of people with all manner of beliefs and politics and it is where those people go to get their news. It’d be dismaying, to say the least, to learn your news source suppresses topics most important to you. In light of this whole thing, there are, then, two questions I want to ask. The first is … why is there an expectation of zero bias from facebook? And second… what does facebook do in light of that expectation? Let us know what you think in the comments below!

---SOURCES---
Facebook Swaying Public Opinion
http://www1.udel.edu/udaily/2016/sep/politics-social-media-092315.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/13/us/politics/social-networks-affect-voter-turnout-study-finds.html?_r=0
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/apr/19/donald-trump-facebook-election-manipulate-behavior
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/10/can-voting-facebook-button-improve-voter-turnout
http://mashable.com/2014/07/02/facebook-sandberg-emotions-experiment/#Riq1FvcMqsqT

Bias in Language
https://freedom-to-tinker.com/2016/08/24/language-necessarily-contains-human-biases-and-so-will-machines-trained-on-language-corpora/

Bias in Computer Algorithms
https://socialmediacollective.org/reading-lists/critical-algorithm-studies/

---FURTHER READING---
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/12/technology/facebooks-bias-is-built-in-and-bears-watching.html?_r=0
http://gizmodo.com/former-facebook-workers-we-routinely-suppressed-conser-1775461006
http://www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-refutes-criticisms-about-a-bias-against-conservatives-1462890206
http://money.cnn.com/2016/05/10/technology/facebook-news-senate/index.html
http://digiday.com/platforms/former-facebook-trending-news-editor-just-going-get-rid-product-altogether/
http://technical.ly/brooklyn/2016/06/08/fred-benenson-mathwashing-facebook-data-worship/
http://www.wsj.com/articles/facebooks-trending-feature-exhibits-flaws-under-new-algorithm-1473176652

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---TWEET OF THE WEEK---
https://twitter.com/1212thedoctor/status/775409364207276032

---ASSET LINKS---
00:24 Gizmodo Article
http://gizmodo.com/former-facebook-workers-we-routinely-suppressed-conser-1775461006

00:41 NY Times Article
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/12/technology/facebooks-bias-is-built-in-and-bears-watching.html?_r=0

00:57 The Facebook Effect
http://www1.udel.edu/udaily/2016/sep/politics-social-media-092315.html

1:11 Sriracha 
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/sriracha

2:35 Idea Channel Serial Part 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xT0yRXWo6UU

3:18 Billy on the Street
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lz9HhVMAG8E&feature=youtu.be&t=106

3:40 Updated Beginners Guide to Facebook (2015)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMr4M4ponm8

4:53 Media Matters
http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/11/03/fox-news-redefines-unbalanced-by-giving-romney/191118

5:58 Language Bias
https://freedom-to-tinker.com/2016/08/24/language-necessarily-contains-human-biases-and-so-will-machines-trained-on-language-corpora/

6:20 Mathwashing
http://technical.ly/brooklyn/2016/06/08/fred-benenson-mathwashing-facebook-data-worship/

7:52 Facebook Trending Illustration by Jim Cooke
http://jimcookeillustration.tumblr.com/

8:07 Wall Street Journal
http://www.wsj.com/articles/facebooks-trending-feature-exhibits-flaws-under-new-algorithm-1473176652

---MUSIC---
https://soundcloud.com/montone-2/minimalist

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Written and hosted by Mike Rugnetta (@mikerugnetta)
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