GOP senator presses Instagram, Facebook over alleged bias in content recommendations

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) on Monday pressed the heads of Instagram and Facebook over how their platforms recommend content to users, alleging, based on anecdotal evidence, that their algorithms may be biased against conservatives.

Johnson, in a letter to Instagram head Adam Mosseri and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, questioned whether there are “human-driven bias within algorithms” used by the social media company.

{mosads}”Policymakers and the American public deserve to understand the facts behind the content and suggestions they are served on these internet platforms,” the senator wrote.

The Wisconsin Republican said one of his staffers — a “conservative woman in her late 20s” — received a host of liberal-leaning recommendations from Instagram’s “Suggestions for You” feature.

He also brought up the issue at a recent Senate Energy and Commerce hearing about “persuasive technology,” or tech that social media companies deploy to change the attitudes or behaviors of its users.

According to screenshots, when Johnson’s staffer followed political news organization Politico on Instagram, the platform recommended that she follow figures including Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) as well as news organizations such as the BBC and Reuters.

A Facebook spokesperson confirmed the company has received the letter, offering an explanation of Instagram’s “Suggested for You” feature. Facebook owns the Instagram platform.

“When you follow an account on Instagram, we show you additional accounts you may be interested in following as well in a feature called ‘Suggested for You,’ ” the spokesperson said in an email to The Hill. “To decide which accounts to show in ‘Suggested For You,’ we look at signals like who else follows the account you just followed, and then suggest other accounts that those people also follow.” 

“We do this to help our community discover relevant accounts,” they added.

Johnson in the letter pointed to a recent Pew study that found Americans have “broad concerns over the fairness and effectiveness of computer programs making important decisions in people’s lives.”

“As we become aware of the society-wide significance of this influence, the lack of transparency regarding human bias and the use of algorithms and artificial intelligence is troubling,” he wrote. “As a result, policymakers and the American public deserve to understand the facts behind the content and suggestions they are served on these Internet platforms.”

Johnson is requesting a staff briefing on the issue by July 10, as well as answers to six specific questions about how Instagram and Facebook’s algorithms work.

Top GOP lawmakers, including President Trump, have long raised concerns that social media companies like Facebook and Twitter routinely censor right-wing voices. But the companies have pushed back aggressively against those allegations, saying there is no evidence to substantiate claims of bias.

Several Democratic senators piled on to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) when he implied last month that Twitter’s recommendation algorithms were biased against conservatives because Twitter suggested that he follow several Democrats.

“Because I follow Steve Scalise and several other GOP members of Congress, I get recommended tweets from Ted Deutch … Sheldon Whitehouse … Steve Cohen … Chuck Schumer … and Chris Murphy?” Cruz posted, along with Twitter screenshots.

“Could be they are all members of Congress?” Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), a vocal tech critic, replied.

“I think, no snark, it’s just ‘you like following politicians, here are some more politicians,’ ” he added.