Facebook's decision to replace trending news editors with algorithms is backfiring spectacularly, with the automated system posting a fake news story and links to a video of a man masturbating with a McDonald's sandwich.

The social media giant announced the change in a statement posted on Friday, arguing that it would allow the company to "scale Trending to cover more topics and make it available to more people." 

Facebook trending news came in for a flurry of criticism earlier in the summer, after anonymous former employees claimed conservative views were being suppressed by the site. 

Approximately 15 to 18 people were given the sack over the weekend to make way for the computerised system, Quartz reported. But the decision to replace humans with algorithms is not working out as smoothly as Facebook might have hoped. 

On Saturday, the site pushed an article titled 'BREAKING: Fox News Exposes Traitor Megyn Kelly, Kicks Her Out For Backing Hillary'. The news item is fake: Ms Kelly is still very much a Fox News anchor and has not endorsed Hillary Clinton. 

The fake Megyn Kelly news story pushed by Facebook trending news.The fake Megyn Kelly news story pushed by Facebook trending news.

The trending news algorithm also pushed stories related to a #McChicken hashtag which had gone viral after somebody posted a video of a man performing a sex act with the sandwich. 

In another gaffe, the site promoted a story which used a four-letter expletive in its headline. 

Previously, human editors stuck to a predetermined list of trusted media sources when choosing trending news. Editors also combed through stories to ensure offensive or inappropriate content was weeded out. 

Facebook has acknowledged teething problems with the system, saying it was working to make the detection of hoax and satirical stories "quicker and more accurate." 

 

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