As Data Overflows Online, Researchers Grapple With Ethics
Facebook recently conducted an experiment with approximately 700,000 users by manipulating their newsfeeds and recording the change in their emotions based on the information received. After the research was published, many people were outraged by Facebook’s failure to disclose the experiment and therefore not receiving their users’ agreement to participate.
According to Vindu Goel of the New York Times, most corporations typically conduct experiments like this in order to make product adjustments, but the results are not published.