The journal that published Facebook’s psychological study is raising a red flag about it

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Facebook's newsfeed study isn't just controversial among Internet users and academics, it turns out. Now, even the journal that published Facebook's research says it has reservations about having done so. The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, one of the top scientific journals in the country, said it was publishing an editorial expression of concern regarding Facebook's study.

Although Facebook didn't technically break any rules on human-subject research, the journal said, Facebook's research "may have involved practices that were not fully consistent with the principles of obtaining informed consent and allowing participants to opt out."

Expressions of concern are a way for scholarly journals to notify readers of potential problems in published research, though PNAS said it did not believe Facebook needed to comply with the paper's human-subject research policies. PNAS added in a statement to the Washington Post that the announcement was aimed at acknowledging concerns about the research and that it does not intend to investigate the study further.


The journal that published Facebook’s psychological study is raising a red flag about it More fallout for Facebook: journal cites “concern” over study, privacy group files FTC complaint (GigaOm)