You are viewing an archived webpage. The information on this page may be out of date. Learn about EPIC's recent work at epic.org.

Following EPIC Complaint, Senator Seeks Investigation of Facebook User Manipulation Study

Senator Mark Warner has asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the legality of Facebook's emotional manipulation study. In a letter to the Commission, Senator Warner stated that "it is not clear whether Facebook users were adequately informed and given an opportunity to opt-in or opt-out." He asked the FTC to conduct an investigation to see "if this 2012 experiment violated Section 5 of the FTC Act or the 2011 consent agreement with Facebook," two issues raised in EPIC's earlier complaint. "The company purposefully messed with people's minds," wrote EPIC in a complaint to the Commission. EPIC charged that Facebook violated a consent decree that required the company to respect user privacy and also engaged in a deceptive trade practice. EPIC has asked the FTC to require that Facebook make public the News Feed algorithm. For more information, see EPIC: In re Facebook, EPIC: In re Facebook (Psychological Study), and EPIC: FTC.


« Privacy Rights In the Age of Drones: The Role of States | Main | EPIC Seeks Government Report about Security of Internet Voting »

Share this page:

Defend Privacy. Support EPIC.
US Needs a Data Protection Agency
2020 Election Security