Zuckerberg Admits Using Ranking Algorithm To Suppress Hunter Biden Laptop News
- by Laurie Sullivan @lauriesullivan, August 26, 2022
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg spoke with podcast host Joe Rogan about how dealing with controversial content on Facebook has "trade-offs.”
Joe Rogan is host of "The Joe Rogan Experience" podcast on Spotify.
“The FBI basically came to some folks on our team and said, hey, just so you know, you should be on high alert, we thought there was a lot of Russian propaganda in the 2016 election and we’ve noticed that there’s about to be some kind of dump similar to that,” Zuckerberg said.
Facebook told Fox News in a statement that it did not block the New York Post story, but rather temporarily reduced its distribution to give fact-checking partners time to review it.
That reduction in distribution, Zuckerberg told Rogan, required Facebook to change the ranking algorithm for between five and seven days, as the Facebook and third-party fact-checking team determined the authenticity of the news.
“The ranking and news feed was a little less,” Zuckerberg said, when pressed by Rogan to provide a percentage. He did not cite an exact percentage. “A lot of people were sill able to share it. We got a lot of complaints that was the case. Obviously, this is a hyper political issue, So, depending on what side of the political spectrum, you either think we didn’t sensor enough or censored way too much.”
Zuckerberg said that Facebook wasn’t as “black and white” about it as Twitter. He said that if the FBI comes to the company and says it needs to be on-guard about something, it should be taken seriously. He also couldn’t say whether or not the FBI came to Facebook and said it needs to be on guard about the specifically Hunter Biden story, but “it fit the pattern.”
Two dozen senior leaders have donated 1,700 contributions to political committees, Forbesreported in October 2021. More than 1,000 contributions totaling $620,000 went to Facebook's political-action committee.
It’s also important to note that Joe Biden’s campaign, along with two supporting groups, received $220,000 from Facebook’s top 24 employees, according to Forbes. None of Facebook’s leaders donated to former President Donald Trump’s equivalent groups.
Mr. Zuckerberg did something even worse in my opinion. He took down my posts about my late twin brother and others who I posted about there death. I did nothing to justify why my account was attacked by your employees. Mr. Zuckerberg, what did I do or my late brother ever do to Facebook to deserve my memorial to my brother removed? By brother was patriotic American and Ieven bought advetising from you. Are dead people and especially realatives not allowed to be posted on Facebook to all of our friends, family and late classmates? Your actions hurt and whatever reasons for your actions was totally out of line and insensitive.