https://www.nytimes.

com/2021/08/20/technology/facebook-popular-
posts.html

Facebook, Fearing Public Outcry, Shelved Earlier Report on

Popular Posts
The company praised itself this week for being “the most transparent platform on the
internet.”

By Davey Alba and Ryan Mac

Aug. 20, 2021

When Facebook this week released its first quarterly report about the most viewed posts
in the United States, Guy Rosen, its vice president of integrity, said the social network
Keep reading
had undertaken “a long journey” withfar
to be “by onethe
of most
thesetransparent
options: platform on the
internet.” The list showed that the posts with the most reach tended to be innocuous
content like recipes and cute animals.
Limited articles
Facebook had prepared a similar report forFree the first three months of the year, but
executives never shared it with the public because of concerns that it would look bad for
the company, according to internal emails
Access sentand
some articles bypersonalized

executives and shared with The New

York Times. email briefings.

In that report, a copy of which was provided

Log to an
in or create The Times, the most-viewed link was a
account
news article with a headline suggesting that the coronavirus vaccine was at fault for the
death of a Florida doctor. The report also showed that a Facebook page for The Epoch
Times, an anti-China newspaper that spreads right-wing
Limited time offer conspiracy theories, was the
19th-most-popular page on the platform for the first three months of 2021.
Unlimited access
The report was nearing public release when some
₹65 ₹15/week for oneexecutives,
year including Alex Schultz,
Facebook’s vice president of analytics and chief marketing officer, debated whether it
would cause a public relations problem,
Enjoy unlimited according
news coverage toaccess.
and article the internal emails. The company
Cancel online
anytime.
decided to shelve it.

“We considered making the report public earlier,”

Subscribe nowsaid Andy Stone, a Facebook
spokesman, “but since we knew the attention it would garner, exactly as we saw this
week, there were fixes to the system we wanted to make.”

Mr. Stone said Mr. Schultz had advocated releasing the original report but eventually
No commitment required, cancel anytime.

agreed with the recommendation towillhold

Your payment method off. be charged in advance every 4
automatically
weeks. You will be charged the introductory rate for the introductory period,
Facebook did not sayand
thereafter will be charged the standard rate. All subscriptions renew
why it decided
automatically. to produce
You can cancel a popularity
anytime. Mobile report,
apps are not supported on but it has faced
all devices. These offers are not available for current subscribers. Other
increasing scrutiny over the data it shares with the government and the public
 restrictions and taxes may apply. Offers and pricing are subject to change
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/20/technology/facebook-popular-
without notice.
posts.html
© 2021 The New York Times Company
Help Feedback
Facebook, Fearing Public Outcry, Shelved Earlier Report on
Popular Posts
The company praised itself this week for being “the most transparent platform on the
internet.”

By Davey Alba and Ryan Mac

Aug. 20, 2021

When Facebook this week released its first quarterly report about the most viewed posts
in the United States, Guy Rosen, its vice president of integrity, said the social network
had undertaken “a long journey” to be “by far the most transparent platform on the
internet.” The list showed that the posts with the most reach tended to be innocuous
content like recipes and cute animals.

Facebook had prepared a similar report for the first three months of the year, but
executives never shared it with the public because of concerns that it would look bad for
the company, according to internal emails sent by executives and shared with The New
York Times.

In that report, a copy of which was provided to The Times, the most-viewed link was a
news article with a headline suggesting that the coronavirus vaccine was at fault for the
death of a Florida doctor. The report also showed that a Facebook page for The Epoch
Times, an anti-China newspaper that spreads right-wing conspiracy theories, was the
19th-most-popular page on the platform for the first three months of 2021.

The report was nearing public release when some executives, including Alex Schultz,
Facebook’s vice president of analytics and chief marketing officer, debated whether it
would cause a public relations problem, according to the internal emails. The company
decided to shelve it.

“We considered making the report public earlier,” said Andy Stone, a Facebook
spokesman, “but since we knew the attention it would garner, exactly as we saw this
week, there were fixes to the system we wanted to make.”

Mr. Stone said Mr. Schultz had advocated releasing the original report but eventually
agreed with the recommendation to hold off.

Facebook did not say why it decided to produce a popularity report, but it has faced
increasing scrutiny over the data it shares with the government and the public