A few years ago, Facebook faced criticism after it was discovered that the social media platform had conducted a psychology experiment on nearly 700,000 users without their knowledge. The test saw Facebook manipulate news feeds to control which emotional expressions the users were exposed to. The research was done in collaboration with Cornell University and the University of California to gauge if exposure to emotions led people to change their own posting behaviors. The study suggested that moods were contagious; users exposed to more positive content were slightly more likely to post positively, and those exposed to more negative content were slightly more likely to post negatively. Facebook insisted there was no unnecessary collection of people’s data, but the public criticized the way the research was conducted and raised concerns over the impact such studies could have. Meanwhile, government officials called for an investigation into the matter. Facebook later issued a public apology for the anxiety it caused, acknowledging that the benefits of the research might not have justified the upset. The company also updated its internal research review processes.
