1. Skip to content
  2. Skip to main menu
  3. Skip to more DW sites
Live TV
Latest audioLatest videos
In focus
Israel and the crisis in the Middle EastGerman coalition collapseUS election

Facebook's filter bubble

April 27, 2016

Facebook has over 1.5 billion active users worldwide. For many of them, the social network is their primary source of information - which can result in a limited selection that only reinforces pre-existing views.

https://p.dw.com/p/1IciW
Facebook app running on smartphone screen
Image: ZDF

Most Facebook users tend to network with like-minded people. Now experts are warning this could result in what they call a filter bubble - a limiting of content to only what reinforces the user's own pre-existing views. Other opinions and related information get filtered out - a consequence of Facebook's increasing function as the primary source of information on current events for many of its users. So they have little chance of forming well-rounded opinions.