By Elizabeth Culliford
(Reuters) – Facebook Inc confirmed on Friday it was temporarily halting recommendations for all political groups and any new groups in the run-up to Tuesday’s U.S. presidential election.
Facebook’s Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg referred to one of the changes during a Senate hearing on Wednesday, saying: “We have taken the steps to stop recommendations in groups for all political content or social issue groups as a precaution.”
Facebook Groups are communities that form around shared interests. Public groups can be seen, searched and joined by anyone on Facebook.
Ahead of the U.S. vote, several watchdog and advocacy groups have pushed for Facebook to limit algorithmic group recommendations. They have argued that some Facebook Groups have been used as spaces to spread misinformation and organize extremist activity.
A Facebook spokeswoman declined to say when the changes had been made or how long they would last.
“We will assess when to lift them afterwards, but they are temporary,” she said in an email to Reuters.
(Reporting by Elizabeth Culliford; Editing by Tom Brown)
