stylistic:tone, quality:corruption
Social sciences

The birth of new online media, such as social media, has complicated the idea of informed consent. In an online environment people pay little attention to Terms of Use agreements and can subject themselves to research without thorough knowledge. This issue came to the public light following a study conducted by Facebook in 2014, and published by that company and Cornell University. Facebook conducted a study without consulting an Ethics Committee or IRB where they altered the Facebook News Feeds of roughly 700,000 users to reduce either the amount of positive or negative posts they saw for a week. The study then analyzed if the users' status updates changed during the different conditions. The study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The lack of informed consent led to outrage among many researchers and users. Many believed that by potentially altering the mood of users by altering what posts they see, Facebook put at-risk individuals at higher dangers for depression and suicide. However, supporters of Facebook claim that Facebook details that they have the right to use information for research in their terms of use. Others say the experiment is just a part of Facebook's current work, which alters News Feeds algorithms continually to keep people interested and coming back to the site. Others pointed out that this specific study is not unique but rather news organizations constantly try out different headlines using algorithms to elicit emotions and garner clicks or Facebook shares. They say this Facebook study is no different from things people already accept. Still, others say that Facebook broke the law when conducting the experiment on users that did not give informed consent. The Facebook study controversy raises numerous questions about informed consent and the differences in the ethical review process between publicly and privately funded research. Some say Facebook was within its limits and others see the need for more informed consent and/or the establishment of in-house private review boards.