I'd normally be with you in defending Facebook here, but in this case the ethics really are questionable.
They designed an experiment where there was a serious hypothesis that it could lead to depression in the people subject to it. That has the potential to be actually harmful.
I still defend Facebook's right to do research, but they need to take more care to avoid harm.
The industry as a whole doesn't perform experiments designed to depress people. There could be other unethical experiments too, but they need to be judged on a case by case basis.
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I'd normally be with you in defending Facebook here, but in this case the ethics really are questionable.
They designed an experiment where there was a serious hypothesis that it could lead to depression in the people subject to it. That has the potential to be actually harmful.
I still defend Facebook's right to do research, but they need to take more care to avoid harm.
The industry as a whole doesn't perform experiments designed to depress people. There could be other unethical experiments too, but they need to be judged on a case by case basis.