Facebook user emotional contagion research criticised as unethical

A research study into the effects of so-called 'emotion contagion' conducted by Facebook, the University of California and Cornell University on a swathe of Facebook users was described as 'creepy', 'manipulative' and 'unethical'. 

Conducted over a one-week period in 2012, the research detected that very small changes in the emotional state of our environment can have knock-on effects for how people behave on social networks.

The content of news feeds were changed for a random sample of 689,003 Facebook users, with one group experiencing positive content, and another experiencing only negative content.

However, it transpired that the researchers had failed to gain the informed consent of the sample, leading to a heated debate on the nature of academic and corporate ethics boards and Institutional Review Boards, and on the nature of Facebook's relationship with its users.

In response to the backlash, Facebook acknowledged the need to improve its internal review processes for such experiments and better communicate with users about it's research practices.