Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg denied a report from earlier this week alleging the social media website censored conservative stories and right-leaning media outlets in its trending news feature.
Zuckerberg spoke out publicly for the first time on Thursday night since the report was published Tuesday.
“To serve our diverse community, we are committed to building a platform for all ideas. Trending Topics is designed to surface the most newsworthy and popular conversations on Facebook. We have rigorous guidelines that do not permit the prioritization of one viewpoint over another or the suppression of political perspectives,” Zuckerberg wrote in a Facebook post.
“We take this report very seriously and are conducting a full investigation to ensure our teams upheld the integrity of this product. We have found no evidence that this report is true. If we find anything against our principles, you have my commitment that we will take additional steps to address it,” he continued.
The billionaire said that in the coming weeks the company will invite top conservatives and others from across the political spectrum to share their concerns.
“I want to have a direct conversation about what Facebook stands for and how we can be sure our platform stays as open as possible,” Zuckerberg wrote.
Zuckerberg is also a cofounder of FWD.us, a left-leaning lobbying group that has sided with President Obama on a number of executive immigration actions.
