Facebook User Experiment Draws Investigation From UK's Data Regulator

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The UK's regulator will investigate the "experiment" recently revealed. I'm surprised there's not more investigation going on.

A UK regulator is investigating whether Facebook broke data protection laws when it conducted a psychological study on users without their consent.

The test saw Facebook "manipulate" the news feeds of nearly 700,000 users to control which emotional expressions they were exposed to.

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) said it planned to question Facebook over the study.

Facebook said it had taken "appropriate protections for people's information".Facebook User Experiment Draws Investigation From UK's Data Regulator [bbc.co.uk]

Earlier
Facebook Experiment Manipulates User's Emotions [webmasterworld.com]

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Facebook's Chief Operating Officer, Sheryl Sandberg, has reacted to the criticism over the "experiment."

I'm surprised it took so long to react, and importantly, they didn't think there might be an issue with messing with people's minds, and not telling them. Add this to the Doh! department.

Facebook's psychological experiment on nearly 700,000 unwitting users was communicated “poorly,” Sheryl Sandberg, the company’s No. 2 executive, said Wednesday.

It was the first public comment on the study by a Facebook executive since the furor erupted in social-media circles over the weekend.

“This was part of ongoing research companies do to test different products, and that was what it was; it was poorly communicated,” Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer, said while in New Delhi. “And for that communication we apologize. We never meant to upset you.”Sheryl Sandberg Apologises Over Facebook Experiment [blogs.wsj.com]

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Notice she didn't apologize for doing the experiment, just for communicating poorly about it.