Facebook 'leads' users by the nose?

Facebook is embroiled in a major scandal involving its "breaking news" section.

According to Michael Nunez's latest article posted on Gizmodo, the headlines you see when scrolling through your News Feed or searching for content on a mobile app are the work of humans and their biases and prejudices.

“They call it ‘breaking’ news and they advertise it as if it’s sorted by an algorithm. That’s not true,” Nunez told The Huffington Post in an interview.

Trending Stories on Facebook

Nunez's latest story alleges that some Facebook employees tasked with building the Trending menu have avoided including controversial news stories no matter how popular they are on the social network.

“In other words, Facebook’s news section operates like a traditional newsroom, reflecting employee biases and organizational imperatives,” Nunez describes in the article, but adds that there is no evidence that superiors pressure employees to decide what types of news to avoid.

Facebook denied the allegations. A spokesperson for the social network said it has strict guidelines for its review teams to ensure consistency and neutrality. “These guidelines do not tolerate the suppression of political views or favoring one view or publication over another.”

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg denied the allegations.

Why did this become a scandal?

Facebook has transformed into a media giant with the ability to shape thinking not just by computer algorithms but by a team of people who decide how to distribute news without any standards or rules, two factors that any reputable news outlet must adhere to.

Because Facebook is so powerful and has such a huge number of users (1.65 billion), even a small change can disrupt traffic to news websites.

Facebook has been accused of not being transparent as a news portal. Some have quipped that perhaps the company should rename its breaking news section to “editor’s picks” so people know what they’re reading.

According to Cictnew