On Wednesday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the company would no longer recommend civic and political groups to its users. The change occurs in the aftermath of the U.S. Capitol insurgency January 6.
“This is a continuation of work we’ve been doing for a while to turn down the temperature and discourage divisive conversations,” Zuckerberg said in a call with analysts following the company’s fourth-quarter profits.
This comes after the firm temporarily agreed in October to stop recommending these communities to U.S. users in the run-up to the 2020 U.S. elections. In addition, Zuckerberg said the company is now taking measures to reduce the amount of political content seen in its News Feed by consumers.
Zuckerberg also said, “One of the top pieces of feedback that we’re hearing from our community right now is that people don’t want politics and fighting to take over their experience on our services.”