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Facebook has denied allegations that the team responsible for its trending topics section deliberately suppressed conservative views – but says it will improve the feature.

Facebook photo search results often lead to old-timey phones. Photograph: Lauren Hurley/PA

Allegations have been made anonymously that the team responsible for choosing trending topics did so with little oversight and deliberately suppressed conservative views.

On Monday, Facebook denied any bias in a press release and a letter sent directly to John Thune, the chairman of the US Senate commerce committee.

Colin Stretch, general counsel at Facebook, said the company met with Thune on 18 May to discuss an internal two-week investigation, which had found “virtually identical” rates of approval of conservative and liberal topics.

“Suppressing political content or preventing people from seeing what matters most to them is directly contrary to our mission and our business objectives, and the allegations troubled us deeply.”

But Stretch said the investigation “could not fully exclude the possibility of isolated improper actions or unintentional bias” and Facebook would make changes to trending topics to prevent potential misuse and “to minimise risks where human judgment is involved”.