In an unparalleled move encapsulating the last bastions of tech journalists existing in the jaded stratosphere of exercising editorial decisions, the apparent organic nuances of trending stories and content are now officially out of the hands of human influence.
In May, Mark Zuckerberg’s empire came under fire, as employees admitted to influencing the results of trending news with a bias against conservative content. The company vowed that the apparent issue was solved and the unabashed flow of information would commence. However, on Monday the proverbial wheels came off the wagon in shocking and embarrassing fashion. In an ironic twist of fate, the trending stories led with a missive about a possible defection by Fox News Anchor Megyn Kelly to the Hillary camp. The flawed write-up contained information that Kelly was a “closet” supporter of the Democratic candidate for President and that a studio verbal altercation with host Bill O’Reilly, cemented her fate as an anchor at the network.
While the company’s vaunted “algorithms” have come under fire with conservatives and selected advertisers for the overall mediocrity and inadequacies in effectively reaching a core audience, Monday’s blip may represent the superficial level in a potential scandal having ramifications in on-line business practices and the future of viral marketing practices. One thing is for certain, the online software bots were obviously never tested against Asimov’s three rules of robotics, which always seemed to deter fiction from the castigating principles of the mundane and the full representation of justice.
Read the full article from the Washington Post here.