- Facebook (FB -2%) made a big change to its algorithms in 2018 with an intent to increase meaningful interactions - but the update made the platform's content more divisive and angry, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg resisted internal suggestions to fix that, The Wall Street Journal reports.
- That's from a third "Facebook Files" story the WSJ has produced based on an extensive array of internal communications it's reviewed. Earlier entries covered how a company program exempted secret elites from its content rules, and internal discussion over the harm Instagram does to teenagers.
- Shares are down 2% today.
- Zuckerberg said the algorithm change was to promote bonds between users by boosting "meaningful social interactions" - MSI - among friends and family.
- Company researchers found, though, that publishers and political parties were reorienting around outrage and sensationalism to drive Facebook traffic - what they called an "increasing liability." The documents even note some political parties in Europe told the company that they had shifted policy positions to resonate more on Facebook.
- And data scientists on the company's integrity team offered a number of potential changes to curb that effect, but Zuckerberg resisted some of those changes out of concern it would hurt engagement.
- “Is a ranking change the source of the world’s divisions? No,” says Facebook's Andy Stone. “Research shows certain partisan divisions in our society have been growing for many decades, long before platforms like Facebook even existed.”