Facebook suddenly changes it's algorithm for Trending topics after caught censoring conservatives

Facebook Inc. told a U.S. senator that an internal investigation had found “no evidence of systematic political bias” against conservatives in its trending topics tool, but that it will revamp how the feature works to minimize the potential effects of individual biases.

In a 12-page response to Sen. John Thune, (R., S.D.), Facebook said a review found that conservative and liberal topics were approved for the trending feature at “virtually identical rates.” The two most frequent topics since early 2015, Facebook said, are Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and the subject “#GOPDebate.”

Still, Facebook said it couldn’t rule out the possibility of “isolated improper actions or unintentional bias” by workers in how trending topics are selected. The company said it is making several changes intended to “minimize risks where human judgment is involved.”

Among other things, Facebook said the curators who assemble and approve topics will no longer rely on external websites and news outlets to assess the importance of potential topics. Facebook said it its adding more oversight to the trending topics team, but didn’t offer specifics.