Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg said Wednesday she wants to make sure “all ideas are expressed” on the social media giant’s pages, despite allegations the company was suppressing conservative views.
“Facebook’s a platform for all ideas and all voices,” Sandberg said at a discussion held at the American Enterprise Institute. She acknowledged that the allegations that editors were excluding conservative stories from Facebook’s “trending” news feed “rang true” to people who believe Silicon Valley favors liberals, but assured the audience that an internal investigation found “no evidence of systematic bias.”
Sandberg said a “managing bias” diversity course taken by most employees previously handled issues like gender, race, nationality and sexuality. In light of the controversy, she said the company is adding a “scenario on political bias.”
“You need people with different opinions and you need an environment where people can express those opinions, and we work on both,” said Sandberg.
Though she acknowledged that a certain amount of editorial discretion is necessary as there is “no place on Facebook for hate,” she argued that because the social network allows users to connect to a broader group of people, the overall effect is to minimize the effects of political polarization.
“So we believe strongly that Facebook actually widens the points of view you see, particularly when you compare it to getting news from one news outlet, which a lot of people do,” she said.
