AS IT IS 2016-05-11 Are Facebook's Trending Topics Unfair?

AS IT IS 2016-05-11 Are Facebook's Trending Topics Unfair?

This is What’s Trending Today…

Former Facebook workers said this week that the social media company often avoided letting news popular among conservative Americans appear in its “Trending” section.

The former workers told the website Gizmodo that they were told to select stories to include in the Trending list, even if those stories were not actually trending. The former workers also said they were told not to include topics about Facebook itself into the trending list.

One of the former workers told Gizmodo that the policies “had a chilling effect on conservative news.” Another accused Facebook of being biased¹ in its selection of trending topics.

The controversy² did become the No. 1 trending topic on Facebook for part of the day Monday. Many Facebook users were surprised that the company permitted the discussion to even appear in its Trending section.

The Associated Press reported Tuesday that a Facebook official said the company has found no evidence to support the former workers’ claims. Tom Stocky, a company vice³ president, wrote in a Facebook post that the company does not permit political views to be suppressed.  

Meanwhile, the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee chairperson has sent a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The chair, John Thune, is a Republican. In the letter, he asked Zuckerberg to respond to several questions about the company’s alleged⁴ practice of suppressing conservative news.

Words in This Story

chilling effect - n. a discouraging effect

biased - adj. having or showing an unfair tendency to believe that some people, ideas, etc., are better than others

suppress - v. to keep (something) secret : to not allow people to know about or see (something)

1 biased   

a.有偏见的

参考例句：

• a school biased towards music and art 一所偏重音乐和艺术的学校
• The Methods: They employed were heavily biased in the gentry's favour. 他们采用的方法严重偏袒中上阶级。

2 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

3 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

4 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为