Facebook study sparks ICO probe

Facebook could be facing a fine of up to £500,000 for running its psychological study on users without their consent, after the data watchdog confirmed it is investigating the issue.
The test, which saw Facebook manipulate the news feeds of nearly 700,000 users to control which emotional expressions they were exposed to, has triggered outrage among users and privacy groups.
And now the Information Commissioner’s Office – and its counterpart in Dublin, where the social network is based – said they will be speaking with Facebook but could not confirm whether it had broken any laws.
It is understood the ICO is demanding to know how the project was sanctioned without first gaining consent from users. The Data Protection Act requires organisations to ensure that they process personal data fairly and lawfully and that they only collect personal data “for one or more specified and lawful purposes”.
One of the researchers behind the project, Adam Kramer, has since apologised: “The goal of all our research at Facebook is to learn how to provide a better service. Having written and designed this experiment myself, I can tell you that our goal was never to upset anyone. I can understand why some people have concerns about it, and my co-authors and I are very sorry for the way the paper described the research and any anxiety it caused.”
Facebook’s director of policy in Europe, Richard Allan, said: “It’s clear that people were upset by this study and we take responsibility for it. We want to do better in the future and are improving our process based on this feedback.”
The social network has been at pains to stress that users’ data is secure and never exploited. In April, chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg claimed: “Privacy is of the utmost concern and importance to Facebook and it is important for people who use Facebook to know that we are very protective of their data; they have control of it, they share it. We are able to personalise ads without sharing any of users’ private data with any advertisers.”

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