[guelo]

Its been several years since FB changed the default sort order from 'Recent' to 'Top'. They made the change gently, first letting angry users change the default back to 'Recent'. In typical FB fashion the setting would randomly switch back to 'Top' if you weren't vigilant, and then after a while after angry users got tired of fighting it and others forgot how it used to be they took the setting away.

My point being that this has been in the works for a long time and is part of their long term strategy. They will continue to tweak their algorithm causing the occasional outrage, backing off, then coming back even more forcefully.

Remember, Zuck has stated that his mission is to train people how to share their info publicly. Expect that "training" to continue, including for advertisers.

[fnayr]

My FB still lets me change the sort order but randomly changes it back to top.

[brudgers]

As does mine. When it changes to "Top" it's glaringly obvious, too.

Perhaps the option persists because I use Facebook in a limited way, always through a dedicated device - primarily, through its own virtual machine, occasionally on an old smartphone with no SIM over WiFi, never via my primary browser or active cellphone.

In my case, Facebook's data mining only sees a reflection of my Facebook related activities. It is tempting to share more, but I have better places to subject people to what's on my mind.