THE GUARDIAN WAS RIGHT: Facebook’s Curators Shape ‘Trending’ News Feature.

Facebook Thursday published the 28-page editorial guidelines for the trending feature, hours after the Guardian published a similar document. Disclosing the guidelines, and an accompanying blog post, marked Facebook’s latest effort to quell concerns that it manipulates the trending feature for political purposes.

Together, the documents underscored tensions between Facebook’s view of itself as an open platform for the exchange of ideas and the way it often functions as a traditional publisher, by selecting and highlighting certain news stories over others.

In a blog post, Justin Osofsky, vice president of Facebook’s global operations, said the trending topics team is guided by principles that are “consistent with Facebook’s deep commitment to being a platform for people of all viewpoints.”

Then why go to such lengths to pretend otherwise?

UPDATE (FROM GLENN): Could Facebook Swing An Election?