Facebook表示，它正在改变其备受争议的热门话题部分的构成，以回应参议院对保守派新闻来源涉嫌审查的调查。该公司的新闻业务将不再依赖排名前十的网站（包括《****》、CNN和《*****》）来确定某个主题是否有新闻价值。它还取消了多达1000个网站的列表，这些网站用来评估故事的相关性，以及它用来辅助算法的RSS提要。

“我们的调查显示，没有证据表明，在选择或突出趋势话题功能中包含的故事方面存在系统性的政治偏见，”Facebook总顾问科林·斯特伦奇（Colin Stretch）今天在一份声明中写道。Facebook表示，其数据分析证明，自由派和保守派的话题以相同的比例被批准进入趋势榜，而没有证据证实某些新闻来源（如Blaze and Drudge Report）被压制的说法事实上，我们证实，媒体报道中提到的大多数主题在多个场合都被列为趋势话题，”Stretch补充道。不过，他也承认，Facebook“不能完全排除个别不当行为或无意偏见的可能性”，因此该公司正在修改公式，以更加依赖算法。

Facebook不能排除无意偏见的可能性

Facebook的趋势话题部分的变化是为了回应参议院商务委员会本月早些时候发起的一项调查。在一系列备受瞩目的Gizmodo报道之后，由参议员约翰•图恩（JohnThune）领导的委员会向Facebook首席执行官马克•扎克伯格（MarkZuckerberg）发出了一封信。其中第二篇报道援引一位前新闻馆长的话说，该团队在选择向16.5亿用户展示哪些内容时，经常忽略保守的出版物。这一结果引发了一场广泛的辩论，讨论Facebook的趋势列表如何运作，以及该公司是否应该采取更严肃的措施来保持平衡，因为它已成为许多人的每日新闻来源。

“Facebook一直在讨论如何确定趋势话题，以及如何采取措施来最大限度地降低个人判断产生偏见的风险，”图恩在今天发表的一份声明中写道Facebook对待这些指控的严肃态度以及它作为一个开放平台接受所有观点的愿望是显而易见的，令人鼓舞的，我期待着该公司的行动符合它的公开言论。”

Facebook正在尽其所能压制审查的说法

过去两周，Facebook一直在尽其所能解决保守党领导人和用户的担忧。扎克伯格上周会见了右倾名人，其中一些人对该公司表示赞赏。它也承认了一个混合了算法和人类决策的系统的固有问题。”“我们现在知道，这个系统依赖于人类的判断，而不仅仅是一个自动化的过程，这比以前所承认的要多，”图恩在声明中写道Facebook已经认识到，让信息系统完全不受潜在偏见影响的努力存在局限性，这为其研究结果提供了可信性。”

尽管图恩承认，他的委员会根本无法规范一家私人公司的观点，但他表示，这一要求一直是为了提高Facebook新业务的透明度。目前，Facebook似乎已经满足了这一要求。以下是图恩的声明全文：

Private companies are fully entitled to espouse their own views, so I appreciate Facebook’s efforts to address allegati*** of bias raised in the media and my concern about a lack of transparency in its methodology for determining trending topics. Facebook has been forthcoming about with how it determines trending topics, and steps it will take to minimize the risk of bias from individual human judgment. The seriousness with which Facebook has treated these allegati*** and its desire to serve as an open platform for all viewpoints is evident and encouraging and I look forward to the company’s acti*** meeting its public rhetoric.

Facebook’s description of the methodology it uses for determining the trending content it highlights for users is far different from and more detailed than what it offered prior to our questi***. We now know the system relied on human judgment, and not just an automated process, more than previously acknowledged.

Facebook has recognized the limitati*** of efforts to keep information systems fully free from potential bias, which lends credibility to its findings. While the committee remains open to new information on this matter, transparency – not regulation – remains the goal, so I thank the company for its efforts to acknowledge relevant facts and its recognition of a continuing need to transparently address relevant user questi***.

Facebook Inc.’s general counsel Colin Stretch wrote today that the company’s two-week internal investigation "revealed no evidence of systematic political bias," and outlined changes to protect the feature from potential misuse as part of a neutral platform going forward. The resp***e, requested by Chairman Thune, did note that company guidance, prior to July 2015, may have in some instances led to the exclusion of popular topics because it "prevented or delayed acceptance of topics that were not covered by major news organizati***," and that the company could not "fully exclude the possibility that, over the years of the feature’s existence, a specific reviewer took isolated acti*** with an improper motive.