Mark Zuckerberg invited prominent conservative media figures, including Glenn Beck and Dana Perino, to a meeting at Facebook’s headquarters this week.
The meeting is aimed at addressing the alleged suppression of conservative news stories in Facebook’s “trending” stories section. The tech blog Gizmodo published the anonymously sourced claims on Monday. Facebook says it is investigating and that it has found no evidence to back up the claims.
Last Thursday, Zuckerberg said in a blog post that he would invite “leading conservatives and people from across the political spectrum” to talk with him about the controversy.
And those invitations have now started to go out. Beck wrote on Facebook early Sunday morning that “Mark wanted to meet with 8 or ten of us to explain what happened and assure us that it won’t happen again.”
Beck said in his Facebook post that he plans to attend. Referring to Zuckerberg, he said, “It would be interesting to look him in the eye as he explains and a win for all voices if we can come to a place of real trust with this powerful tool.”
A Facebook spokesman confirmed invitations have also been sent to Perino, a Fox News host and former Bush administration press secretary, and Zac Moffatt, co-founder of tech firm Targeted Victory and former digital director for Mitt Romney.
Wednesday’s meeting is said to be the first of several such conversations — signaling that Facebook is well aware of the risk to its reputation that comes from the whiff of bias.
