Report: Facebook Suppressed Breitbart News Traffic by Twenty Percent
The Wall Street Journal has published internal material from anonymous sources at Facebook revealing that the company introduced tools that suppressed the traffic of Breitbart News by 20 percent, and other conservative publishers by double-digit margins.
The company introduced two tools after the 2016 election that disproportionately harmed conservative publishers. The
Journal highlights internal Facebook research showing that if both tools were removed, it would increase traffic to Breitbart News by 20 percent, the
Washington Times by 18 percent, Western Journal by 16 percent, and the Epoch Times by 11 percent. Facebook eventually removed one of the tools while keeping the other — but it is unclear which of them had the most impact on traffic.
According to the
Wall Street Journal, one of Facebook’s researchers feared, “We could face significant backlash for having ‘experimented’ with distribution at the expense of conservative publishers.”
Despite Facebook’s favoritism and financial support of its establishment competitors, Breitbart News continues to be wildly popular with Facebook’s users. In August, data from Facebook-owned social media analytics company Crowdtangle showed Breitbart News
demolishes its competitors in generating engagement from Facebook’s users. The data showed Breitbart earned more Facebook engagement than
The New York Times, the
Washington Post, and HuffPo combined. Breitbart surpassed the
Wall Street Journal and CNN by healthy margins as well.
Report: Facebook Suppressed Breitbart News Traffic by Twenty Percent