Facebook 's Sheryl Sandberg has apologized for the secret psychological tests the company conducted on nearly 700,000 users in 2012. The incident has angered members of the social network, as well as experts who deal with the subject.
The experiment, revealed in a scientific study published in the March issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that Facebook was hiding “a small percentage” of emotional words from its members’ News Feeds, without their knowledge, to test what effect it would have on their posts or “likes.”.
The statement by Sandberg, Mark Zuckerberg’s deputy chief executive, is a significant development since until Tuesday the social network had said the experiment was legal and fully covered by its terms of service that its users have accepted. The secret tests will face an investigation by the UK Information Commissioner, while the study’s publishers have said they will investigate whether any ethical violations have occurred. Psychological experiments with human subjects should inform participants – and independent researchers, which Facebook apparently has not done, arguing that its terms of service implicitly cover such experiments.
