Are you a test subject for Facebook?

Did you know that Facebook has been conducting experiments on its users? A paper in 2014 revealed that Facebook manipulated its news feeds to study whether negative/positive emotions can be propagated amongst users. In this psychological test, the experimenters, who were hired by Facebook, tested to see if a reduced number of positive posts made users less inclined to post positive messages themselves. They also tested the reverse, i.e., negative emotions, in an attempt to figure out if getting rid of negative messages from the users’ news feeds could cause them to post less negative content.

The way they did it is by changing the algorithm with which Facebook collects posts in a member’s news feeds and screened for any positive or negative cues(e.g., key words) that indicated positivity/negativity. Some of the users were intentionally fed neutral/happy messages from other users, while others were fed neutral/sad messages. Later their own posts were assessed for their respective degree of positivity/negativity.

The conclusion? Yes. Social networks like Facebook can promote positive and negative emotions. Wait a second, did Facebook just purposefully ruined 700,000 people’s day?

This study raised quite a few controversies. The group of experimenters was accused of unethical testing and ignoring the adverse impact of the emotional changes that this study may induce. James Grimmelmann, a professor at the University of Maryland commented that “This would require informed consent” — exactly what this experiment was lacking.

The data use policy on Facebook stated that occasionally it may use the information it receives from its users for “internal operations, including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, research and service improvement”. But is this enough to warn people beforehand that they might become the guinea pigs for social scientists and psychologists?

Assuming that it is NOT against the law to do this, it is still required for any article to be published in PNAS to include in the Methodology section a statement specifying whether the licensing committee endorsed the experimental procedures (which the study did not mention anywhere). Also, according to the Declaration of Helsinki, the subjects must be properly informed of the goals and methods of the study, especially its potential dangers, whether they be physical or psychological.

Bottom line: Never trust Facebook.

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