Earlier in the week, news broke that Facebook may have been hiding conservative stories in their “Trending Topics” news ticker. While the evidence boiled down to an unnamed former Facebook employee’s word, with almost no concrete evidence, the incident triggered the public to conduct a sort of review of Facebook’s news content, where many said that they did indeed, like most of Silicon Valley, tend to lean to the left a bit. Asserting that he wants Facebook to be an equal platform for all ideals, Mark Zuckerberg decided to invite a group of conservative thought leaders, such as Glenn Beck, to meet with him and talk about Facebook’s content. After a three hour gathering with a dozen conservative leaders, they found that Facebook was biased, but were relieved to hear that Zuckerberg wanted to change that.
One of the conservatives’ recommendations for Facebook to become a more neutral and welcoming platform for all was to ensure ideological diversity. Essentially, they said that a company full of liberals, even if unconsciously, will tend to espouse liberal content and suppress conservative, when it comes to curation. The point was brought up by Kristen Soltis Anderson, author of a book about the role of traditional views, values and politics in this day and age. Republican thought leader Zac Moffatt echoed her statement, saying that Silicon Valley in and of itself was largely biased against conservatives though and that those who can’t see that are “completely missing the larger picture.”
The conservative leaders admired Facebook’s willingness to talk over the issues, and Zuckerberg’s willingness to admit that Facebook was not where he wanted to be in regards to being a neutral platform that any group or ideal can use to get into the public eye and flourish. The conservative leaders that were summoned to the chat are all holding their breath to see Facebook take themselves to task and implement solutions to become a more neutral outlet for news and ideas. Moffatt expressed that Facebook’s willingness to meet with the group and hear them out was a good sign and put them above most of Silicon Valley in this area. He went on to say that the meeting ultimately went about as well as it could have, and that Zuckerberg’s promise for Facebook to change their ways was encouraging. “If, in 60 days, we have the same conversation it was a missed opportunity and a poor use of time.”, Moffatt said about the meeting.