What the Facebook “Liberal Bias” Controversy Is Really About

[Pryderi]

http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2016/05/why_mark_zuckerberg_is_meeting_glenn_beck_and_other_facebook_bias_questions.html?wpsrc=sh_all_dt_tw_top

We’re here, in short, because of a May 9 report in the tech blog Gizmodo that cited an anonymous former Facebook contractor accusing his ex-colleagues of anti-conservative bias in their selection of stories for the site’s “trending” news section. The claims played perfectly into the conservative narrative of liberal bias in the mainstream media, and Republican politicians wasted no time launching a pseudo-official “inquiry” into the matter.

<snip>And what about that “inquiry” by House Republicans? Is that a real thing?

Sure—in the sense that political theater and grandstanding are real things. Sen. John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, wasted no time in capitalizing on the controversy by sending an official letter to Zuckerberg in his capacity as chair of the Senate Commerce Committee.* In the letter, he demanded answers to a series of questions about how the trending section works and how Facebook ensures that it’s objective.

But Facebook is a private company. Isn’t this, like, a free-speech issue?

You’d think! Especially since conservatives are always calling for the government to get out of people’s business. Thune said his committee is looking into the matter on “consumer protection” grounds, which feels like a pretty thin justification for government interference in political media.
So Facebook is pushing back, right?

Wrong!

[Different Drummer]

1. Facebook may have a liberal bias, but...

there are plenty of right-wingers on there who don't seem to have any problem finding--and posting--stories that represent their POV.

[meow2u3]

2. The real reason right-wingers are whining about "liberal bias"

They want their propaganda to be the ONLY acceptable POV and damn the truth.

[Rex]

3. Since when does a private company have to give a dam about free speech?

GOPukers will find anything to distract from the fact that they have no actual policies. All the GOP does is make up new controversy, so they don't actually have to work a day in their lives.

[Johonny]

4. It's okay not to sell a wedding cake to gay people, but it's not okay to block their anger

about selling wedding cakes to gay people. Capitalism they love it when it is used to oppress other people. They hate it every other way.

[gratuitous]

5. I wonder if Sen. Thune would be quite as sensitive

If someone were to, let's just say, complain about the anti-liberal bias of the Fox Network, which operates under the auspices of the Federal Communications Commission, and uses the public airwaves (I'm not talking about the plethora of Fox cable channels, but their broadcast network) for its broadcast, would Sen. Thune be all up in that, sending official letters and weighing in from his post on the Senate Commerce Committee?

Magic 8 Ball says, "Not A Chance."