Algorithms that sway the heart: an experiment in emotion manipulated by Facebook (January 2012).

Algorithms that sway the heart: an experiment in emotion manipulated by Facebook (January 2012).

In 2014 Facebook shocked the world when it announced that it had secretly conducted an experiment on approximately 700,000 users to manipulate the content of posts in their News Feeds. The experiment, which took place over a week in January 2012, tested whether emotions propagate from other people's posts by adjusting the percentage of positive or negative posts that appear in users' feeds. The results showed that users who saw upbeat posts tended to post upbeat content themselves, while users who saw gloomy posts tended to post somber content.

This study attracted attention as the first demonstration of "emotional infection" in a digital space, but at the same time, it also attracted a great deal of ethical criticism. The experiment was conducted without prior explanation or consent, and there was a risk of negative effects on mentally unstable users. The fact that the originally required ethical screening was a formality and that users were manipulated in their moods and behavior without their knowledge made this case symbolic of the possibility that social networking sites can even control people's minds. This experiment sharply questioned the possibility that our emotions can be manipulated by someone else's agenda and the limits of freedom and ethics in a digital society.