According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, the social networking platform stopped the development of their ‘Common Ground’ project over fears of bias allegations. The ‘Common Ground’ was an initiative by Facebook that aimed to enhance peaceful communication between people from the political spectrum. The company worked on the project for more than a year but decided to shelve the project after a global policy chief Joel Kaplan raised objections.
As per the reports, the initiative would have multiple features that included changes in the Newsfeed that would boost posts that were liked, shared, or commented by people across different political ideologies. It would also restrict from showing comments that led to ‘heated’ discussions.
However, Kaplan raised his concern when he came to know that the ‘Common Ground’ project would polarize the conservative users more than their left-leaning counterparts. According to Kaplan, Facebook would negatively affect the voices of the conservative party and might open the gates of controversy for the social media company.
Since Facebook has a ‘serve everyone’ policy, the company ultimately decided to call off the project.
On the contrary, there are concerns that Kaplan himself has also been biased when he attended Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation hearing. Additionally, his approach may have sustained some prejudices instead of bringing people together.
Photo: Chesnot/Getty Images
As per the reports, the initiative would have multiple features that included changes in the Newsfeed that would boost posts that were liked, shared, or commented by people across different political ideologies. It would also restrict from showing comments that led to ‘heated’ discussions.
However, Kaplan raised his concern when he came to know that the ‘Common Ground’ project would polarize the conservative users more than their left-leaning counterparts. According to Kaplan, Facebook would negatively affect the voices of the conservative party and might open the gates of controversy for the social media company.
Since Facebook has a ‘serve everyone’ policy, the company ultimately decided to call off the project.
On the contrary, there are concerns that Kaplan himself has also been biased when he attended Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation hearing. Additionally, his approach may have sustained some prejudices instead of bringing people together.
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Photo: Chesnot/Getty Images
