Facebook's algorithm puts hoax story about 9/11 on Trending Topics (Photo : Getty Images/ Dan Kitwood)
On Friday, the social media giant, Facebook's news trending algorithm placed a hoax story about "9/11" at the top of its list, linking to an article by The Daily Star. The article had claimed the World Trade Centre Towers fell because of bombs planted within the buildings in 2001, instead of a terrorist attack.
According to CNET, this is the second time in two weeks Facebook's algorithm put fake news story on the top of its Trending Topics. Last month on 27, the social media giant placed a hoax story about Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly, just a day after the social network switched from its human curation team.
Facebook which has more than a billion active monthly users, makes it's Trending Topics part a prime real estate for views, whether the stories are true or not. The company found itself into hot water when it pulled the iconic "Napalm Girl" photo from the social network before changing its mind about its rules.
Iconic 'Napalm Girl' photo? That has no place on Facebook.
— Seth Fiegerman (@sfiegerman) September 9, 2016
9/11 conspiracy theory? Promote the heck out of it. pic.twitter.com/7RF6PrSYWd
The fake post was promptly removed once Facebook was alerted about it.
"We are aware a fake post showed up there and as a temporary step to resolving this, we have removed the topic," a Facebook spokesman said in a statement.
The 9/11, like other trending topics, had landed on the list organically, from persons anticipating the 15th anniversary of the terrorist attack, but the link which was associated with the topic had been plagued by the hoax article.
The articles on the Trending Topics part are placed through an algorithm that is based on relevancy and time posted, according to an individual familiar with the matter. The algorithm replaces the links after some amount of time, without any quality control or human supervision.
On Friday at about 9 a.m. PT, the daughter of Arizona senator John McCain, Meghan McCain had been a trending topic linked with an article from Prntly, The Washington Post called it a "pro-Trump fake news website," calling her "Miss Piggie," the Muppet character.
Following the leading link, at around 2 p.m., the link had changed to a Yahoo article about McCain criticizing the upcoming 2016 presidential election.
When Facebook changed its algorithm on August 26, the company said it would still have individuals involved in the activity to make sure the links posted remained "high-quality."
Facebook did not comment on how its quality control team missed the algorithm's hoax links before it was posted in the coveted trending section.
Here is the video of the Facebook's hoax story:
