Facebook questioned by U.S. Senate over anti-conservative bias allegations

A U.S. Senate committee launched aninquiry on Tuesday into how social media website Facebookselects its news stories after a report that company employeesblocked news about conservative issues fromits "Trending" section.

The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportationasked Facebook Chairman and Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg in aletter to answer questions about the company's news curationpractices and its trending topics section.

The investigation comes after Gawker'sGizmodoblog reported Mondaythat a former Facebook employee claimed workers "routinelysuppressed news stories of interest to conservative readers,"while "artificially" adding other stories to the trending list.

U.S. Senator John Thune, the chairman of the committee, toldreporters Tuesday his primary concern was that Facebook may beengaging in deceptive behavior if employees meddled with whattrending news was displayed.

"If you have a stated policy, which your followers or youraudience knows to be the case, that you use an objectivealgorithm for trending topics -- you better follow that policy,"Thune said. "It's a matter of transparency and honesty and thereshouldn't be any attempt to mislead the American public."

The letter to Facebook includes requests for information onthe organizational structure for the "Trending Topics feature."

Adam Jentleson, deputy chief of staff to Democratic SenatorHarry Reid, balked at the request in a statement provided toReuters.

"The Republican Senate refuses to hold hearings on [SupremeCourt nominee] Judge Garland, refuses to fund thePresident's request for Zika aid and takes the most days off ofany Senate since 1956, but thinks Facebook hearings are a matterof urgent national interest," Jentleson said.

A Facebook spokesman said the company has receivedthe Senate letter and is reviewing it. They also denied theGizmodo report Tuesday in a statement provided to Reuters.

"After an initial review, no evidence was found that theanonymous allegations are true," a spokesman said.

Tom Stocky, the vice president of search at Facebook, responded to the allegations Monday night in a lengthy post published to the social media site saying,there are "strictguidelines" for trending topic reviewers who "are required toaccept topics that reflect real world events."

He added that those guidelines are under "constant review"and that his team would "continue to look for improvements."

Katie Drummond, the editor-in-chief of Gizmodo, called herpublication's story "accurate" in a statement released toReuters Tuesday.

Gizmodo's report alarmed several social media users, withsome conservatives in particular criticizing Facebook foralleged bias.

"'If a Conservative Speaks - and Facebook Censors Him - DoesHe Make a Sound?'" Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker(@ScottWalker) wrote on Twitter Tuesday, with a link toa National Review story that detailed the allegations againstFacebook.