ICO to Investigate Facebook 'Mood Manipulation' Study

UK data regulator The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) is planning to investigate Facebook's recent psychological experiment, in which the firm manipulated users' news feeds to assess the impact on the mood of their subsequent posts.

In the experiment, conducted between January 2009 and March 2012, Facebook examined data posted by nearly 700,000 users, altered its content to exaggerate positive or negative stories, and then recorded the impact this had on the users' own posted content.

Facebook claims users had already given 'informed consent' to being involved in such research activities when they signed up to the site, but according to some sources, the company updated its terms and conditions after running the experiment. The social media giant is now facing an investigation by the ICO, which will examine whether users did actually give their consent for their personal data to be used in this way. If found guilty of breaking the UK's data protection laws, the ICO can issue Facebook with a fine of up to £0.5m (sic).

Since the issue came to light, some Facebook users have been busy expressing their anger, with one posting on the site: 'Conducting studies without informed, explicit consent, is something every first year psychology student is warned against. While you may be lining your pockets with cash, this failure to behave ethically will eventually haunt you'.

In a public apology, Richard Allan, Facebook's Director of Policy in Europe, said: 'It's clear that people were upset by this study and we take responsibility for it. The study was done with appropriate protections for people's information and we are happy to answer any questions regulators may have.'