The American company Facebook is subject to political bias, as it carefully filters the information of conservative media in favor of liberal, reports TASS with a reference to The New York Times. According to the source, first it was Gizmodo website that accused Facebook of being biased in the selection of the most important news for users. The publication of that website arose a flurry of criticism of the Facebook from both conservative and liberal circles.

 “It is beyond disturbing to learn that this power is being used to silence viewpoints and stories that don’t fit someone else’s agenda,” responded the Republican National Committee.  “Aside from fueling right-wing persecution, this is a key reminder of dangers of Silicon Valley controlling content,” warned the proxy to Edward Snowden, a previous journalist of The Guardian Glenn Grinwald who is difficult to accuse of being partial to conservative ideas. As the editor in chief of the news publication Breitbart News Alexander Marlowe stated, Gizmodo’s data confirm “what conservatives have long suspected.”

Facebook management refuted the accusations, saying that the company strictly adheres to the "principle of objectivity and neutrality." “We take allegations of bias very seriously. Facebook is a platform for people and perspectives from across the political spectrum,” assured the company.

Gizmodo claims that the news filtering mechanism is set in function “ trending,” that pops-up depending on the application version (desktop or mobile ) either on the right side of the screen or in the search mode . As the New York Times reminds, the news providing function takes a number of factors into consideration, including geographical data, user's favorite topics and others. Gazeta, however, talked with former employees of the company,  who claim that in fact the function is guided by a group of contractors. And they discard any information that looks inaccurate or unverified.