In the recently published Widely Viewed Content Report, Meta has noted a decline in political content that is being viewed on Facebook.
Among other things, the report collates a list of the most viewed posts and links that are shared on Facebook over a period of time, in this case for the duration of Q3.
What’s interesting is that the popularity of political content seems to have declined, replaced instead by celebrity-focused news stories and other tabloid-style headlines.
This could be attributed to Meta’s recent focus on removing inflammatory political content from Facebook. The platform has come under fire in recent years for being instrumental in the popularization of extremist or otherwise dangerous political views.
The Widely Used Content report was designed to measure the success of Meta’s attempts to remove harmful content. Previous updates noted far more attention being given to political topics, so this recent update would appear to demonstrate that the company’s measures are working.
Last year, Meta confirmed that it would begin showing less political content to users in the US. However, it appeared that this was just intended to affect content shown in the news feed, not in private groups where the majority of harmful content can be found.
With the latest Widely Viewed Content Report, it would seem that Meta’s efforts are working, although there is still some way to go.
