The White House is accepting Facebook’s explanation that it is not suppressing conservative news stories, thus making it harder for them to be seen and shared on Facebook, and said it is “pleased” that Facebook has denied reports to the contrary.
“We were pleased to see the statement from Facebook making pretty clear that this is not something that they engaged in,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said. “Obviously you can ask them directly for a better explanation and further questions for what people may be seeing.”
Earnest also suggested that it is ultimately the responsibility of consumers to seek out different opinions and news outlets in order to stay informed.
“There’s no denying that the kind of media environment that exists today places a special burden on consumers of news to make a special effort to seek out opinions that may differ from theirs,” he said. “The nature of Facebook is that it helps people connect over large distances and it makes those connections based on shared opinions and shared characteristics.”
Because of these social media algorithms and the tendency of many media outlets to cater to consumers either on the left or right, Earnest said, Obama has stressed the need for Americans to “seek out differing opinions and to challenge their own assumptions.”
Earnest made the statement after a Monday report on Gizmodo, a technology blog, quoted former Facebook employees saying they were instructed to blacklist conservative media outlets from being placed in the “trending topics” section of the social media site.
Facebook has denied the allegations, and says that it has “rigorous guidelines” to ensure fairness and neutrality for it’s trending topics section.
Sen. John Thune, a South Dakota Republican who chairs the Commerce Committee, announced Tuesday that he will launch an investigation into the allegations and will question employees responsible for the trending topics section about the guidelines the company uses.
