Facebook Added 'Research' To User Agreement 4 Months After Emotion Manipulation Study

[Commentary] Four months after the Facebook emotion study happened, in May 2012, Facebook made changes to its data use policy, and that’s when it introduced this line about how it might use your information:

“For internal operations, including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, research and service improvement.” Facebook helpfully posted a “red-line” version of the new policy, contrasting it with the prior version from September 2011 -- which did not mention anything about user information being used in “research.”

Defenders of the Facebook study including my colleague Jeff Bercovici say that everyone on the Internet is doing A/B testing -- showing users two versions of something to see which resonates more based on how they click, share, and respond.

But the Facebook study with its intention to manipulate the Facebook environment for unknowing users to see whether it made them feel elated or depressed seems different to me than the normal “will this make someone more likely to buy this thing” kind of testing.

“They actually did a test to see whether it would have a deleterious effect on their users,” says Pam Dixon of the World Privacy Forum. “This isn’t A/B testing. They didn’t just want to change users’ behaviors, they wanted to change their moods.”