Why Facebook Should Follow Ethical Standards -- LIke Everybody Else

[Commentary] On July 2, 2014, Facebook's Chief Operating Officer, Sheryl Sandberg, defended the company's recent controversial experiment, which manipulated users' newsfeeds to change their moods. But in so doing, she raised more concerns than she answered. She argued that the company and other social media sites regularly engage in research, and that the practice is thus acceptable.

Facebook defenders say that the company could instead simply conduct its experiments secretly and not publish the results. But past errors do not justify future ones. Social science can help us all, but depends on trust -- which can be fragile. Social media companies can now strengthen users' trust by agreeing to follow ethical standards.

It is not clear that Facebook broke the law -- the regulations apply technically to federal-funded research -- but have been universally adopted by researchers as the standard. Facebook should agree to follow these guidelines as well. Doing so need not be onerous. The company could simply submit its studies an established independent review board. Facebook could also, for instance, not include children in mood-manipulation experiments, which could easily be done, since users indicate their age.

[Klitzman, MD is Professor of Psychiatry and Director of the Masters of Bioethics Program, Columbia University]