Facebook bias: What is the true face of the world's largest social network?

This morning we woke up to some big news. According to a report by The Guardian, Facebook probably isn’t as unbiased as it is supposed to be . In fact, it is far from it. Turns out, Facebook news curators have power over trending stories. And there are several reasons why this is bad. Heard of The Matrix ? Just before you count yourself as Neo, here’s a reality check. Under the current circumstances of revelations around Facebook, you don’t need to be as diligent as Neo. In fact, ‘The Social Network’ isn’t as intelligent as the Matrix. To save yourself from being played with, all it takes is due diligence on your part. As always, some common sense and discernment helps. We live in an age where youth look to social media for a lot of their developing thought. In the words of our Prime Minister Narendra Modi, social media networks including Facebook played the role of a ‘guide’ rather than a textbook in his role of governance. And given the active political conversation, debate and even fights on social media.

Clearly biases and sentiments are built over and developed due to popular opinion and discussions prevalent in the online space. In the specific case of Facebook as referred to in The Guardian article, the social network, on the pretext of human editorial curation is accused of influencing the large community of users by placing a biased point of view. For some that makes sense, for others, that’s against ethics. Isn’t that what media outlets do anyway, some may ask, so why target Facebook for human curation? As much as we may be engineered towards granularity, some questions don’t have a distinct black and white answer. The school of thought that advocates absolute editorial liberty and freedom stands for a point of view. And it is the prerogative of the readers of the outlet to agree or disagree with the opinions and views expressed in them. The same yardstick can possibly be held to Facebook as well. Certainly suggestions and recommendations by algorithms isn’t a new thing. So why make such a big deal? The big deal is with ‘ social experiments ’ and the influence of tweaking and targeting of opinions and comments to audiences with divergent points of view. But a deliberate tweaking during a significant and crucial electoral process makes it wrong on many counts. The accusation of bias against candidates of a particular school of thought in the run up to the US Presidential elections is a clear sign. Preferences may differ, but a social network such as Facebook works with a lot of trust – of millions of users across the globe – is expected to be plain objective. If selective audiences weren’t enough, selective targeting and promotion just further complicates the already murkier story. Earlier today, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted an update on his Facebook page.

Zuckerberg said, “This week, there was a report suggesting that Facebook contractors working on Trending Topics suppressed stories with conservative viewpoints. 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.” It somehow reminds me of an old Bollywood movie when the late Rajesh Khanna refers to life as being puppets on stage, controlled by the someone higher above.