Facebook to include more conservative news sites in its trending topics, according to attendees at recent summit

Facebook is going to include more conservative news in its trending topics, according to people who attended its summit with right-wing websites.

The site has been struck by controversy in recent weeks after ex-workers said that its “Trending Topics” bar had been tweaked so that it didn’t include more conservative news.

Now the company has laid out plans to “revamp Trending Topics”, according to Rob Bluey, the editor-in-chief of right-wing site the Daily Signal. It did so at a summit it held with conservative news outlets to address the complaints.

Facebook previously published a list of 1,000 news outlets that it uses to vet stories that go in the trending panel. But that list could include new right-wing sources, according to Mr Bluey.

Mark Zuckerberg posted on Facebook about the meeting, but discussed little of the details about what actually was discussed. Noting that conservative causes tend to be highly discussed on the site, he only said that he would do what he could to address outlets’ concerns.

“I know many conservatives don't trust that our platform surfaces content without a political bias,” he wrote in a public Facebook post. “I wanted to hear their concerns personally and have an open conversation about how we can build trust. I want to do everything I can to make sure our teams uphold the integrity of our products.”

The most highly-rated post under Mr Zuckerberg’s post took issue with th e idea that Facebook should be a “platform for all ideas” as was written in the post.

“I think it's great to include different points of view,” wrote Marc Getzoff. “However, if conservatives want to claim that transgender people have ‘mental disorders’ and that Obama is a Kenyan Muslim, they shouldn't be surprised if their news stories don't show up.

“The news trends should include news, not hateful or discriminatory ideas meant to harm people.”