Facebook to put friends and family first, not media

Facebook said Wednesday it would give friends and family more prominence on user feeds, a move that may hurt media outlets that rely on the social network to draw readers.

Facebook said in a statement that the goal of the "news feed," which appears when users log in, "is to show people the stories that are most relevant to them" and that its update "helps you see more posts from your friends and family."

The move comes after Facebook came under scrutiny from allegations by a former contractor that it was suppressing some political viewpoints in its "trending topics."

Facebook said its review found no bias, but that it would take steps to reassure users about the neutrality of the platform.

Facebook vice president Adam Mosseri said in a blog post that an updated algorithm that determines what users see would help people find information that matters to them.

"We are not in the business of picking which issues the world should read about," he wrote.