"Conservatives Accuse Facebook of Political Bias", 9 May 2016

Facebook scrambled on Monday to respond to a new and startling line of attack: accusations of political bias.  The outcry was set off by a report on Monday morning by the website Gizmodo, which said that Facebook’s team in charge of the site’s “trending” list had intentionally suppressed articles from conservative news sources...

Facebook denied the allegations after a backlash — from both conservative and liberal critics — erupted... Facebook, in response, says that it follows rigorous guidelines “to ensure consistency and neutrality” and that it works to be inclusive of all perspectives. “We take allegations of bias very seriously,” a Facebook spokeswoman said in a statement. “Facebook is a platform for people and perspectives from across the political spectrum.”

The back-and-forth highlights the extent to which Facebook has now muscled its way into America’s political conversation — and the risks that the company faces as it becomes a central force in news consumption and production... Facebook has taken pains to say that it is not an echo chamber of similar opinions... Yet Gizmodo’s report raises questions about the effects that Facebook’s staff members and their biases — even unconscious ones — have on the social network... “The agenda-setting power of a handful of companies like Facebook and Twitter should not be underestimated,” said Jonathan Zittrain, a professor of computer science and law at Harvard University.