In the immediate aftermath of the contested US election, Facebook implemented a change to its news feed algorithm that favoured large general news publishers.
This meant that sites like CNN, the BBC, New York Times and NPR saw a spike in views, whereas more partisan sites like Breitbart and Occupy Democrats took a hit.
The post-election changes were designed to be temporary, but in a series of ‘heated internal debates’ seen by the New York Times, staff argued for the measures to remain in place – even if they resulted in people spending less time on the site.