Former Facebook workers said this week that the social media company often avoided letting news popular among conservative Americans appear in its “Trending” section. The former workers told the website Gizmodo that they were told to select stories to include in the Trending list, even if those stories were not actually trending. The former workers also said they were told not to include topics about Facebook itself into the trending list. One of the former workers told Gizmodo that the policies “had a chilling effect on conservative news.” Another accused Facebook of being biased in its selection of trending topics. The controversy did become the No. 1 trending topic on Facebook for part of the day Monday. Many Facebook users were surprised that the company permitted the discussion to even appear in its Trending section. The Associated Press reported Tuesday that a Facebook official said the company has found no evidence to support the former workers’ claims.