Mark Zuckerberg: 'No evidence' Conservative Topics Were Suppressed In Trending Topics

Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook Inc (NASDAQ: FB), said he found "no evidence" with respect to a report on Gizmodo that said the social media giant's contractors "routinely suppressed conservative news" in trending topics.Read more: http://www.benzinga.com/news/16/05/7951606/ex-facebook-employees-say-they-routinely-suppressed-conservative-news#ixzz48XjzpGDvZuckerberg responded to the report with a following post on Facebook:"We take this report very seriously and are conducting a full investigation to ensure our teams upheld the integrity of this product," Zuckerberg wrote.https://www.facebook.com/zuck/posts/10102830259184701?pnref=story"We have found no evidence that this report is true. If we find anything against our principles, you have my commitment that we will take additional steps to address it," he added.The Gizmodo report said "several former curators described using something called an 'injection tool' to push topics into the trending module that weren't organically being shared or discussed enough to warrant inclusion – putting the headlines in front of thousands of readers rather than allowing stories to surface on their own."http://gizmodo.com/former-facebook-workers-we-routinely-suppressed-conser-1775461006?rev=1462799465508Zuckerberg noted that the site has "rigorous guidelines that do not permit the prioritization of one viewpoint over another or the suppression of political perspectives."In addition, Zuckerberg has also invited conservatives and people from across the political spectrum for a discussion in the coming weeks over the report."I want to have a direct conversation about what Facebook stands for and how we can be sure our platform stays as open as possible. The reason I care so much about this is that it gets to the core of everything Facebook is and everything I want it to be," Zuckerberg elaborated.At the time of writing, shares of Facebook were down 0.39 percent to $119.81.