UK information watchdog probing Facebook’s experiment for data protection law breach

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) in the UK is investigating whether social network Facebook breached data protection laws when it allowed researchers to conduct a psychological experiment on users, the Financial Times reported.

The data regulator was probing the experiment and planned to ask Facebook questions, according to the newspaper. The newspaper said citing ICO sources that it was rather early to tell exactly what part of the law Facebook may have infringed.

Facebook's psychological experiment on nearly 700,000 unwitting users in 2012 has roiled opinion in the social media. The experiment was aimed to find whether Facebook could alter the emotional state of its users and prompt them to post either more positive or negative content.

The ICO keeps tabs on use of personal data and is empowered to force organisations to change their policies and levy fines of up to £500,000.

Internet privacy concerns topped media concerns last year after US National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden's revelation of mass US surveillance programmes involving European citizens and some heads of state.

Google Inc said last week that it had started scrubbing some search results to comply with an EU ruling upholding citizens' right to have objectionable personal information about them hidden in search engines.

Meanwhile, the social network's experiment, which drew a volley of protests across users and media, was not entirely without support, The Register reported. An increasing number of psychologists and tech commentators are siding with Mark Zuckerburg.

According to The Register, Facebook's own defence of its research had failed to cut any ice with data watchdogs in the UK and Ireland who are now investigating the company. Meanwhile, others have sprung to the defence of the social network.

In a post, Tal Yarkoni, director of the Psychoinformatics Lab at the University of Texas, dismissed the concerns of ''people … very upset at the revelation that Facebook would actively manipulate its users' news feeds in a way that could potentially influence their emotions.''

He notes among other things that it was okay as the effect turned out to be miniscule.

The manipulation had a negligible real-world impact on users' behaviour, according to Yarkoni.

That could not have been known to the researchers ahead of the experiment and was irrelevant to whether or not what Facebook did was ethical, according to The Register.