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I feel like everyone paying attention deep down knew that they were doing this. This is just the article that confirms it.

nujabe 1y ago
What were the signs ?
- dylan604 1y ago
  Like the hack they were doing to de-anonymize users? https://arstechnica.com/security/2025/06/meta-and-yandex-are-de-anonymizing-android-users-web-browsing-identifiers/ https://arstechnica.com/security/2025/06/meta-and-yandex-are...
righthand 1y ago
15 years ago it was celebrated in the media as a “cool inventive cutting edge idea” that Facebook was running psychological experiments on it’s users without consent.
- antiframe 1y ago
  Most of the media I remember from that time was less celebratory and more skeptical. [1] [2] [3] Do you have some examples of the media celebrating Facebook's psychological experiments? Perhaps you live in a different influence sphere or filter bubble than I do. To check my centiment, I asked ChatGPT "What was the media sentiment ten years ago about Facebook running psychological experiments on people?" and here was its top-line response: > Short answer: largely negative — shocked and critical. Journalists, ethicists and privacy advocates framed Facebook’s secret “emotional contagion” experiments as an ethical breach (lack of informed consent, manipulation of users’ moods, corporate research without proper oversight), while a smaller group of commentators pushed back saying large-scale A/B testing is routine for tech firms. [1]: https://www.wired.com/2014/06/everything-you-need-to-know-about-facebooks-manipulative-experiment/ https://www.wired.com/2014/06/everything-you-need-to-know-ab... [2]: https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/the-ethical-problem-with-facebooks-emotional-experiment/ https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/the-ethical-... [3] https://www.yahoo.com/news/facebook-changed-way-experiments-us-barely-181002316.html https://www.yahoo.com/news/facebook-changed-way-experiments-...
- FireBeyond 1y ago
  Not to derail this, but Apple at the launch event last week. "We estimate that we will send high blood pressure alerts to over 100M users with this feature". Is that based on ... what? Or has Apple been surreptitiously mining this data on existing users without their consent? "What size segment of Apple Watch users have undiagnosed hypertension" seems a challenging product discovery exploration, otherwise.
ahahahahah 1y ago
Sorry, a disgruntled former employee saying something with no evidence or details isn't exactly "confirmation".
- daft_pink 1y ago
  Is it due process where we’d send someone to prison for life for this without any other evidence. No, it’s not. Does it fall in with our existing perception of Facebook created by them railing against Apple’s privacy controls, even to the point where Apple shut down their account and they were locked out of their own offices, or how they approach privacy on other platforms or their overall activities regarding privacy for over a decade Fits their m.o. pretty well.

nujabe 1y ago

What were the signs ?

dylan604 1y ago
Like the hack they were doing to de-anonymize users? https://arstechnica.com/security/2025/06/meta-and-yandex-are-de-anonymizing-android-users-web-browsing-identifiers/ https://arstechnica.com/security/2025/06/meta-and-yandex-are...

righthand 1y ago

15 years ago it was celebrated in the media as a “cool inventive cutting edge idea” that Facebook was running psychological experiments on it’s users without consent.

antiframe 1y ago
Most of the media I remember from that time was less celebratory and more skeptical. [1] [2] [3] Do you have some examples of the media celebrating Facebook's psychological experiments? Perhaps you live in a different influence sphere or filter bubble than I do. To check my centiment, I asked ChatGPT "What was the media sentiment ten years ago about Facebook running psychological experiments on people?" and here was its top-line response: > Short answer: largely negative — shocked and critical. Journalists, ethicists and privacy advocates framed Facebook’s secret “emotional contagion” experiments as an ethical breach (lack of informed consent, manipulation of users’ moods, corporate research without proper oversight), while a smaller group of commentators pushed back saying large-scale A/B testing is routine for tech firms. [1]: https://www.wired.com/2014/06/everything-you-need-to-know-about-facebooks-manipulative-experiment/ https://www.wired.com/2014/06/everything-you-need-to-know-ab... [2]: https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/the-ethical-problem-with-facebooks-emotional-experiment/ https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/the-ethical-... [3] https://www.yahoo.com/news/facebook-changed-way-experiments-us-barely-181002316.html https://www.yahoo.com/news/facebook-changed-way-experiments-...
FireBeyond 1y ago
Not to derail this, but Apple at the launch event last week. "We estimate that we will send high blood pressure alerts to over 100M users with this feature". Is that based on ... what? Or has Apple been surreptitiously mining this data on existing users without their consent? "What size segment of Apple Watch users have undiagnosed hypertension" seems a challenging product discovery exploration, otherwise.

ahahahahah 1y ago

Sorry, a disgruntled former employee saying something with no evidence or details isn't exactly "confirmation".

daft_pink 1y ago
Is it due process where we’d send someone to prison for life for this without any other evidence. No, it’s not. Does it fall in with our existing perception of Facebook created by them railing against Apple’s privacy controls, even to the point where Apple shut down their account and they were locked out of their own offices, or how they approach privacy on other platforms or their overall activities regarding privacy for over a decade Fits their m.o. pretty well.