Facebook censor scandal - What is Zuckerberg up to?

Zuckerberg maintains innocence.

Mark Zuckerberg is set to hold a meeting on Wednesday with Glenn Beck and Dana Perino to talk Facebook's censorship scandal.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Recently a Gizmodo report accused Facebook of suppressing conservative news in the "trending" section.

The report included testimony from former Facebook "news curators" who claimed they were ordered to exclude the genre from the social media outlet's trending module.

Facebook has since denied the censorship - but by then, U.S. Senate Republicans had taken notice of the claim and demanded an explanation.

South Dakota Senator John Thune wrote to Zuckerberg and demanded an explanation for the censorship.

Within the letter, Senator Thune explained how "Facebook has enormous influence on users' perceptions of current events, including political perspectives," then called for an explanation of "Facebook's organizational structure for the Trending Topics feature and the steps for determining included topics."

He also asked outright whether Facebook's news curators have targeted conservative stories and purposely excluded such news from their trending module.

In response to the letter, which continued with other questions pertaining to the censorship of conservative news and trending stories, Facebook's Chief Executive Zuckerberg released a statement to say: "Facebook stands for giving everyone a voice. We believe the world is better when people from different backgrounds and with different ideas all have the power to share their thoughts and experiences.

"That's what makes social media unique. We are one global community where anyone can share anything - from a loving photo of a mother and her baby to intellectual analysis of political events."

Zuckerberg stated an investigation has been launched to ensure the "integrity of this product" and claims there has been no evidence to support the claims of conservative news suppression.

"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," Zuckerberg continued. "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."

In an extra step to ensure the integrity of his product, Zuckerberg has set a meeting for Wednesday with Glenn Beck, Fox News Channel's Dana Perino and Targeted Victory co-founder Zac Moffatt.

The meeting will cover Facebook's editorial bias accusation and how content becomes "trending."

---

The California Network is the Next Wave in delivery of information and entertainment on pop culture, social trends, lifestyle, entertainment, news, politics and economics. We are hyper-focused on one audience, YOU, the connected generation. JOIN US AS WE REDEFINE AND REVOLUTIONIZE THE EVER-CHANGING MEDIA LANDSCAPE.