Facebook's internal investigation into allegations it showed political bias in its Trending Topics feature has turned up no evidence of "systematic political bias."
Facebook general counsel Colin Stretch responded to an inquiry from Senate Republicans via
a letter sent to Sen. John Thune of South Dakota and
a blog post.
"Our investigation has revealed no evidence of systematic political bias in the selection or prominence of stories included in the Trending Topics feature," Stretch wrote. "Our data analysis indicated that conservative and liberal topics are approved as trending topics at virtually identical rates.
"We were also unable to substantiate any of the specific allegations of politically-motivated suppression of particular subjects or sources. In fact, we confirmed that most of the subjects mentioned in media reports were included as trending topics on multiple occasions."
Facebook was accused of
blacklisting conservative news sites in its popular Trending Topics box, which appears in the top right corner of the social media network's website. Last week, the company met with conservative media members to help convince them it does not hold a political bias one way or the other.
Stretch wrote that Facebook could not rule out "isolated improper actions or unintentional bias in the implementation of our guidelines or policies."
The social media giant said it will implement new policies and procedures to help prevent bias in the future.
"These improvements and safeguards are designed not only to ensure that Facebook remains a platform that is open and welcoming to all groups and individuals, but also to restore any loss of trust in the Trending Topics feature," Stretch wrote in his letter to Thune.
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