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02/07/2014
Facebook Faces UK Inquiry Over Emotions Study
The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) is investigating whether Facebook broke data protection laws when it conducted a psychological study on users' emotions without their consent during a week in 2012, and has said it is planning to question the website over the study.
Facebook is reported to have manipulated the the feeds of nearly 689,000 accounts to control which emotional expressions they were exposed to. The affected users were unaware they were taking part.
The ICO also said it would contact the Irish data protection body because the company has its European headquarters located in Dublin.
The social network group said in an statement it had taken "appropriate protections for people's information" and that they would be "happy to answer any questions the regulators may have."
However, if the laws were contravened, the social network could face a large fine.
The research was conduced in collaboration with Cornell University and the University of California in San Francisco and the "experiment manipulated the extent to which people were exposed to emotional expressions in their News Feed," Facebook said in an statement.
It explained the study was done to measure if "exposure to emotions led people to change their own posting behaviours" and found that users who had fewer negative stories in their news feed were less likely to write a negative post, and the opposite.
Labour MP Jim Sheridan, a member of the Commons media select committee, has called for an investigation into the matter.
Adam Kramer of Facebook, who is one of the authors of the report, admitted the firm did not "clearly state our motivations in the paper" and added "I can understand why some people have concerns about it, and my co-authors and I are very sorry for the way the paper described the research and any anxiety it caused."
But Facebook defended the study did not do "unnecessary collection of people data."
(CVS/IT)
Facebook is reported to have manipulated the the feeds of nearly 689,000 accounts to control which emotional expressions they were exposed to. The affected users were unaware they were taking part.
The ICO also said it would contact the Irish data protection body because the company has its European headquarters located in Dublin.
The social network group said in an statement it had taken "appropriate protections for people's information" and that they would be "happy to answer any questions the regulators may have."
However, if the laws were contravened, the social network could face a large fine.
The research was conduced in collaboration with Cornell University and the University of California in San Francisco and the "experiment manipulated the extent to which people were exposed to emotional expressions in their News Feed," Facebook said in an statement.
It explained the study was done to measure if "exposure to emotions led people to change their own posting behaviours" and found that users who had fewer negative stories in their news feed were less likely to write a negative post, and the opposite.
Labour MP Jim Sheridan, a member of the Commons media select committee, has called for an investigation into the matter.
Adam Kramer of Facebook, who is one of the authors of the report, admitted the firm did not "clearly state our motivations in the paper" and added "I can understand why some people have concerns about it, and my co-authors and I are very sorry for the way the paper described the research and any anxiety it caused."
But Facebook defended the study did not do "unnecessary collection of people data."
(CVS/IT)
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Northern Ireland WeatherToday:A chilly start with a widespread frost and some freezing fog, any freezing fog slow to clear. Otherwise bright with sunny spells and coastal showers. Light winds. Maximum temperature 6 °C.Tonight:Coastal showers dying out with a widespread frost developing along with freezing fog, which could become extensive. Winds remaining light. Minimum temperature -3 °C.
