Question

Facebook has long conducted digital experiments on various aspects of its website. For example, just before the 2012 election, the company conducted an experiment on the News Feeds of nearly 2 million users so that they would see more “hard news” shared by their friends. In the experiment, news articles that Facebook users' friends had posted appeared higher in their Newsfeeds. Facebook claimed that the news stories being shared were general in nature and not political. The stories originated from a list of 100 top media outlets from the New York Times to Fox News. Industry analysts claim that the change may have boosted voter turnout by as much as 3 percent. Read Chater 3, Closing Case found on page 83.  

Questions

1. Discuss the ethicality and legality of Facebook's experiment with human emotions.
2. Was Facebook's response to criticism concerning that experiment adequate? Why or why not?
3. Consider the experiments that Facebook conducted in May and June 2015. Is there a difference between these two experiments and Facebook's experiment with human emotions? Why or why not?
4. Should the law require companies to inform their users every time they conduct experiments? Why or why not?

Answer 1