Trump and Other Tragedies Dominate Facebook's Year in Review

The U.S. presidential election is a year away but it already dominates conversation on Facebook, according to the social network’s ranking of the top 10 most-discussed topics on the social network for 2015:

1. U.S. Presidential Election
2. Marriage Equality
3. Charleston Shooting & Flag Debate
4. Star Wars: The Force Awakens
5. Baltimore Protests
6. Planned Parenthood
7. Super Bowl
8. November 13 Attacks in Paris
9. Fight Against ISIS
10. Nepal Earthquakes

That politics were top of mind is no surprise, given the provocative and racially charged comments of Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump, who’s making headlines by calling for a ban on Muslims entering the country, erecting a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and claiming to have witnessed “thousands and thousands of people” in New Jersey cheering the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center — a claim that has been debunked.

Human tragedy dominated much of the social conversation, from the deadly Nov. 13 terrorist attacks on Paris, to the Syrian refugee crisis, to the earthquakes in Nepal, to the Baltimore protests following the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray of injuries he sustained while in police custody.

Millions, however, paused to celebrate when Ireland became the first country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage and, later, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that all states must allow same-sex marriage. Facebook said more than 26 million people changed their profile photos using a rainbow filter to show their support for the LGBTQ community.

Beyond the very top events of the year, there are a lot of lists of more refined breakdowns of the data, such as top places, athletes and politicians. In that last group, Obama edges out Trump. But remember, this isn’t a “Like” contest — it’s what was talked about, positive or negative.

Check out the full year-in-review video here:

https://vimeo.com/148313339

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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