It’s just a few minutes into Mark Zuckerberg’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary and Commerce Committees, but it’s already looking like the Facebook founder isn’t going to be getting off easy: Every senator in attendance is angrily grilling Mark Zuckerberg on why ClickHole’s articles aren’t getting shared as widely on Facebook since it changed its algorithm.
Wow. Senators on both sides of the aisle are clearly determined to hold Zuckerberg accountable for Facebook’s role in preventing them from being constantly showered in the web’s most viral content, courtesy of ClickHole.com.
About two minutes into Zuckerberg’s prepared testimony, committee chairman Chuck Grassley interrupted the Facebook CEO, pounded his fists on the table and angrily demanded to know why ClickHole’s viral-worthy quizzes, articles, and videos are now getting only a fraction of the number of shares as they were before the recent algorithm change went into effect. Zuckerberg must really be feeling the heat now as senator after senator grills the Facebook founder on why thousands of Americans, despite liking and following ClickHole’s Facebook page, are no longer seeing the majority of the site’s incredibly clickable web content in their newsfeeds.
“Mr. Zuckerberg, your site’s reckless algorithm changes have all but damned ClickHole’s trove of highly shareable stories and videos to rot in obscurity,” added ranking member Dianne Feinstein. “Before Facebook’s algorithm change, ClickHole’s content was getting thousands of shares on Facebook, and deservedly so, I might add,” she continued. “I sit up in bed, wide awake every night at 3 a.m., worrying that there might be a heartwarming ClickHole video that Facebook’s algorithm has caused me to miss, and I get so worked up I can’t get back to bed for hours. Your website has caused me to take to the bottle to dull my anxiety, which has pushed away my family. My life is ruined, and the careless actions of your website are to blame, sir.”
“And did you know that ClickHole provides all this content to its millions of fans completely for free, asking nothing in return? Mr. Zuckerberg, your website’s heinous actions against this godly website disgust and horrify me,” concluded Senator Feinstein.
Several times Zuckerberg has tried to defend himself to the Senate committee or steer toward his thoughts on Facebook’s role in the 2016 presidential election, but he has hardly been able to get a word in as the angry throng of senators continues its brutal line of questioning, demanding to know what steps Facebook will take to prostrate itself in front of ClickHole and beg for the viral media site’s forgiveness.
Incredible. There’s no question the Facebook CEO is in hot water, and if he can’t give the Senate committee the answers it’s looking for, Facebook could be facing stiff, new regulations that would ensure Congress that ClickHole’s highly clickable content gets the widespread shares it deserves.
