Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg addressed recent controversy surrounding the Trending Topics feature Thursday night, writing in a post that he takes allegations of political bias "very seriously" and is conducting a "full investigation."
"To serve our diverse community, we are committed to building a platform for all ideas," Zuckerberg wrote. "Trending Topics is designed to surface the most newsworthy and popular conversations on Facebook. We have rigorous guidelines that do not permit the prioritization of one viewpoint over another or the suppression of political perspectives."
"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," he added.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks during an event at Facebook headquarters on April 4, 2013 in Menlo Park, California. Zuckerberg announced a new product for Android called Facebook Home. April 10 he announced a new political group. (Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Zuckerberg said that, thus far, the investigation had turned up "no evidence" conservative news had been suppressed on the platform. Nevertheless, he said he was committed to ensuring individuals of all viewpoints felt comfortable using the website.
"In the coming weeks, I'll also be inviting leading conservatives and people from across the political spectrum to talk with me about this and share their points of view. I want to have a direct conversation about what Facebook stands for and how we can be sure our platform stays as open as possible," the Facebook CEO wrote.
He added, "The reason I care so much about this is that it gets to the core of everything Facebook is and everything I want it to be. Every tool we build is designed to give more people a voice and bring our global community together. For as long as I'm leading this company this will always be our mission."
The note came hours after leaked documents were published online that provided insight into how stories are determined to be trending.
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