Facebook has been in the news for the last few days due to the fact that they allegedly shared user information with a company called Cambridge Analytica. There is another Facebook controversy, however, which is getting far less attention. Changes to their algorithm are starving conservative websites.
This is an issue which is affecting me personally. The other site I work for, American Lookout, has experienced a significant drop in traffic (and revenue) as a result of this change. Jim Hoft of the Gateway Pundit has had the same problem. Truth Revolt has closed its doors and John Hawkins’ Right Wing News is on its way out.
Under the old rules, you would decide which content providers and sources drove your news feed. Now Facebook has decided that they know what’s best for you. The social media giant has figured out a diabolical method for silencing conservative voices by starving them out of existence.
Peter Hasson of the Daily Caller, another site which has been affected by this change, notes that it is all happening under a blanket of secrecy:
Facebook Suppresses Certain Media Outlets In Your Newsfeed. It Won’t Tell You Which OnesWithin the span of eight days in January, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced two different key changes to Facebook’s newsfeed algorithm that together have boosted a “trusted” minority of news outlets while suppressing their competitors.First, Facebook would slash news articles’ share of the newsfeed from five percent to four percent in the coming months, Zuckerberg said. Second, Facebook would boost certain “trusted” news outlets and suppress other, ostensibly less trustworthy sources.The algorithm changes have disproportionately harmed conservative publishers, tech website The Outline concluded in a lengthy report earlier in March. Conservative and right-wing publishers “were hit the hardest” by the algorithm change, the report found, “while the engagement numbers of most predominantly liberal publishers remained unaffected.”Conservative website Western Journalism reached the same conclusion in a similar data report last week. Conservative websites saw a significant drop in traffic from Facebook following the algorithm change, while comparable liberal sources saw a slight increase, that report found.
Last night, Tucker Carlson did a report on this topic. He noted that traffic is down at Breitbart News, Prager University, and even FOX News while liberal sources such as the New York Times, CNN, and the Washington Post have been unaffected.
Carlson spoke to Floyd Brown of Western Journal, who did a great job breaking down what is happening:
George Upper of Western Journal recently published some web traffic statistics which are quite eye-opening:
Confirmed: Facebook’s Recent Algorithm Change Is Crushing Conservative Sites, Boosting LiberalsFacebook’s much-publicized demotion of publishers’ content in users’ news feeds has negatively impacted conservative-leaning publishers significantly more than liberal-leaning outlets, an analysis by The Western Journal has revealed.Liberal publishers have gained about 2 percent more web traffic from Facebook than they were getting prior to the algorithm changes implemented in early February.On the other hand, conservative publishers have lost an average of nearly 14 percent of their traffic from Facebook…To conduct this evaluation, The Western Journal selected 50 publishers known to receive a significant amount of online traffic from Facebook. These publishers include traditional print or television outlets such as The Washington Post, CNN and Fox News, as well as new media outlets like Salon, Vox and The Daily Caller…The 12 most conservatives sites lost an average of 27.06 percent of their traffic from Facebook.Of the 12 most liberal sites, six saw double-digit decreases in traffic, while four saw double-digit increases and two — The Washington Post and HuffPo — saw single-digit increases. CNN’s traffic increased 43.78 percent.
The left talks a good game about the importance of fairness.
This shows that’s all it is. Talk.
Featured image via YouTube.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY