WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A year-long review by a former Republican U.S. senator concludes that Facebook Inc has “significant work to be done to satisfy” concerns on the political right that the social media website is biased against conservatives.
The report by former Senator Jon Kyl, released on Tuesday, said Facebook has hired staff dedicated to “working with right-of-center organizations and leaders.” U.S. President Donald Trump and many Republicans in Congress accuse various social media firms of bias, while tech companies have rejected the charge.
Some Republicans point to anecdotal examples of what they call unfair treatment of conservative viewpoints but have offered no evidence of systemic bias against conservatives. Facebook and other large tech firms have acknowledged mistakes in handling some specific content issues.
Facebook spokesman Nick Clegg said in a blog post the company needs “to take these concerns seriously and adjust course if our policies are in fact limiting expression in an unintended way.”
The Kyl report noted Facebook has made changes including more transparent decisions on why people see specific posts, ensuring page managers can see enforcement actions, launching an appeals process and creating a new content oversight board made up of people with diverse ideological views.
“We will inevitably make some bad calls, some of which may appear to strike harder at conservatives,” Clegg said.
Republican senators have held hearings over the last two years with Facebook, Twitter Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google accusing them of bias. Last month, two Republican senators asked the Federal Trade Commission to probe how major tech companies curate content.
Democrats say the bias allegations are without merit. Democratic Senator Mazie Hirono
