First a Siri joke, now a 9/11 conspiracy? Facebook Trending is having a really bad week.
Facebook’s Trending Topics feature is in trouble. Again.
The section, whose human editors were recently replaced by algorithms, has promoted a “truther” article from a British tabloid claiming the Twin Towers in New York collapsed on Sept. 11 due to a “controlled demolition.”
On Friday morning, users hovering over the “September 11th” trending topic ahead of the 15th anniversary of the attack could see an article from The Daily Star entitled “September 11: The footage that ‘proves bombs were planted in Twin Towers’.”
The article cites “engineers” who allegedly posted video evidence supporting the conspiracy theory that “bombs were planted in Twin Towers.”
As The Washington Post noted, the article later disappeared from Facebook’s page for the topic.
The blunder occurred after Facebook fired several trained journalists in August from the Trending team, leaving artificial intelligence and technical staff to identify and deliver stories to the site’s users.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg later said: “We are a tech company, not a media company. We build the tools, we do not produce any content.”
The change was not particularly well received, with outlets calling the new Trending feature a “disaster,” “a public embarrassment” and a “half-baked quiche.”
Since the layoffs, the Trending team promoted a false story about Fox News’ Megyn Kelly. Facebook later apologized for the mistake. Trending Topics also directed users to a viral video in which a man masturbates with a McDonald’s sandwich.
On the day of the Apple event in San Francisco, Facebook Trending’s top story was a satirical take on the iPhone 7 from an Indian satirical website, Faking News about Siri doing household chores. The Faking News site description advises readers “not to confuse the ‘news reports’ of Faking News as being genuine and true.”
A Facebook spokesperson told Mashable: “We’re aware a hoax article showed up there and as a temporary step to resolving this we’ve removed the topic.”
