Facebook pauses recommendations of political and social issues groups
The company quietly stopped doing so ahead of the presidential election.
Amid a wave of actions Facebook has taken to prepare for next week's presidential election, it has stopped recommending groups that focus on political or social issues. For the time being, users won't see recommendations of new groups either.
It's not clear when Facebook stopped making those recommendations. CEO Mark Zuckerberg briefly noted the change during his Senate testimony this week, and a Facebook spokesperson told Buzzfeed News the measure was a temporary one. It’s not clear how many groups this change impacts. The company also stopped recommending health groups last month.
Facebook has made some other preparations ahead of what's sure to be a contentious election. It isn't accepting new political ads for now and nor will it let candidates run ads that declare victory prematurely. Facebook says it has removed more than 120,000 posts from Instagram and its core platform that sought to "obstruct voting."