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Facebook changes Trending Topics after criticism

The social network adds a more automated design that strips human-written descriptions from its list of popular topics, following months of criticism over how it displayed news stories.

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Ian Sherr Former Editor at Large / News
Ian Sherr (he/him/his) grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, so he's always had a connection to the tech world. At CNET, he wrote about Apple, Microsoft, VR, video games and internet troubles. Aside from writing, he tinkers with tech at home, is a longtime fencer -- the kind with swords -- and began woodworking during the pandemic.
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Jessica Dolcourt Senior Editorial Director, Content Operations
Jessica Dolcourt is a passionate content strategist and veteran leader of CNET coverage. As Senior Director of Content Operations, she leads a number of teams, including Thought Leadership, Speed Desk and How-To. Her CNET career began in 2006, testing desktop and mobile software for Download.com and CNET, including the first iPhone and Android apps and operating systems. She continued to review, report on and write a wide range of commentary and analysis on all things phones, with an emphasis on iPhone and Samsung. Jessica was one of the first people in the world to test, review and report on foldable phones and 5G wireless speeds. Jessica led CNET's How-To section for tips and FAQs in 2019, guiding coverage of topics ranging from personal finance to phones and home. She holds an MA with Distinction from the University of Warwick (UK).
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2 min read
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Here's what Trending Topics will look like now.

 Facebook

In Silicon Valley, maybe a computer really can do it better.

Facebook is changing up the way it shows you trending topics, the company said in a blog post Friday. Instead of describing the topic with a headline, the new automated format simply highlights the trend -- a word, phrase, hashtag, etc. -- without any frills or fuss. Anyone who wants to know what the hubbub is about can hover the cursor to pop up a small window with an associated story and source.

In place of the description, Facebook will now tell you how many people are talking about a given topic.

Why do this? Because, behind the scenes, there's been a real-life person at Facebook writing up those descriptions, and that takes time. Fully automating the process lifts that burden; instead of Facebook employees typing blurbs, a computer program can surface those essentials.

Facebook's also faced criticism over its trending topics service after twin stories from the tech blog Gizmodo alleged that the Trending topics team was allowing their political opinions to affect their judgment of what was and wasn't displayed on the list seen by its 1.7 billion active users. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company found no wrongdoing after an investigation into the issue, but that hasn't stopped many political blogs from claiming they're still being treated unfairly by the social networking giant.

Perhaps to avoid perception this move was in reaction to the controversy, Facebook says this plan's been in the works for a while. It also said trending topics are still personalized based on your tastes, and still relevant to world events.