With no communication from the company, publishers relying on Facebook traffic are at the mercy of the inscrutable algorithm. Data shows an apparent change at Facebook in May caused website traffic to tank at some news sites.
If Facebook is reducing the amount of controversial news that users see, I think that’s a really good thing for society (since presumably this means that fake news and rage bait news is de-prioritized as well.) But it is very shitty that Facebook has so much power over so many companies. It’s upsetting that a single company has so much power over what people see online.
If Facebook is reducing the amount of controversial news that users see, I think that’s a really good thing for society (since presumably this means that fake news and rage bait news is de-prioritized as well.) But it is very shitty that Facebook has so much power over so many companies. It’s upsetting that a single company has so much power over what people see online.