Facebook allegedly broke its own app just to see what people would do
In its latest user experiment, Facebook allegedly crashed its own app for Android users with the purpose of seeing how long it would take users to give up on using the social media site. The findings, intended to help Facebook develop a contingency plan should its relationship with Android operator Google ever go sour, were reportedly surprising: According to tech journal The Information, "the company wasn't able to reach the threshold" of when people would give up, because "people never stopped coming back." Even if the app was down for hours, The Guardian reports that users simply switched over from the app to the mobile version of the site.
Though this test reportedly happened just once "several years ago," The Guardian reports that the social network is catching flak for once again going too far in its user testing. As The Verge's Casey Newton explains, the real problem is that "users are almost totally unaware of these experiments." "And if they do eventually find out about them, they can't really leave — because there's simply no other meaningful Facebook-like service in the market," Newton writes. "That gives the company a moral imperative to treat its users honestly."
This isn't the first time Facebook experimented on its users, either. Back in 2014, Facebook found itself in hot water after it was revealed that it had experimented on users to study "emotional contagion" by purposefully putting more positive or negative content on news feeds to see if it affected what users then posted.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Why are people and elephants fighting in Sri Lanka?
Under The Radar Farmers encroaching into elephant habitats has led to deaths on both sides
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Indie film's 'very brief' use of AI sparks backlash and calls for boycotts
Talking Points Did the creators of a new horror movie make a deal with the artificial intelligence devil?
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Could Taylor Swift swing the election?
Today's Big Question The pop star has outsized influence — and that extends beyond the music industry
By Anya Jaremko-Greenwold Published
-
Justice Department bites Apple with iPhone suit
Speed Read The lawsuit alleges that the tech company monopolized the smartphone industry
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
House votes to force TikTok to sell or face US ban
speed read The House passed a bill to ban TikTok on national security grounds unless it sells to a non-Chinese company
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Apple kills its secret electric car project
Speed Read Many of the people from Project Titan are being reassigned to work on generative AI
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Cellphone use may be lowering sperm count
Speed Read Electromagnetic radiation could be affecting male fertility
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published
-
Nasa reveals first findings from asteroid that could explain origins of life
Speed Read Sample from Bennu has been found to contain an abundance of water and carbon
By Jamie Timson, The Week UK Published
-
NYPD to monitor Labor Day parties using surveillance drones
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Elon Musk announces change to Twitter logo
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Twitter has reportedly threatened to sue Meta over Threads
Speed Read
By Brigid Kennedy Published