Anon, what's your choice?
#Facebook or #nostr?
Manipulation and mind control, or breaking free from the algorithm?
If you are not sure, read this:
One of the darkest secrets in Big Tech history - a sinister experiment conducted by Facebook that silently manipulated the emotional states of 700,000 users.
And no one knew anything.
“There is a famous experiment conducted by Facebook, which I read about, carried out in 2012 and published in 2014, in which they announced that they managed to provoke mass emotional contagion on a large scale,” Lemov told Joe Rogan on his podcast.
She explained how Facebook altered users' news feeds without their consent.
“Every time you access the platform, you agree to be subjected to tests, including A/B tests. In this experiment, one group was exposed to negative emotional content, their feed being modified accordingly - measured by software that analyzed the words used.”
And the results were disturbing.
“It was found that the group exposed to negative content also reacted in a more negative way, as evidenced by their posts, likes, and comments.”
“In contrast, the group exposed to a positively modified news feed exhibited a statistically significant more optimistic emotional response—while the control group remained unchanged.”
In short, Facebook not only observed emotions but actively shaped them.
Without warning anyone.
The full extent of the experiment only became public two years later when researchers finally admitted what they had done.
A team led by scientist Adam Kramer manipulated the news feeds of 689,003 people - removing either all positive posts or all negative ones to analyze the emotional impact.
If in January 2012 your feed seemed inexplicably depressing or abnormally euphoric, you might have been part of that study - without knowing.
The results, published in a scientific journal, were presented in cold, technical language:
“When positive expressions were reduced, people posted fewer positive posts and more negative posts; when negative expressions were reduced, the opposite effect occurred,” the study stated.
Clear evidence that emotions are contagious - and that social media can be used as tools to induce mass emotional states.
The experiment lasted only a week, but for those caught in this algorithmic manipulation, the emotional effects could have persisted much longer.
But this is where things get truly disturbing.
Lemov revealed that once the experiment came to light, the reactions were swift - and in some cases, downright tragic.
“That’s why an intense ethical debate was triggered in 2014 when the study was published,” she said.
One user had a shocking reaction.
“On the Facebook page of the research group that conducted the experiment, at least one person wrote asking: ‘Could I ever find out if I was part of that experiment?’”
“Because during that time I ended up in the Emergency Room with suicidal intentions, and I want to know if the feed modification pushed me, perhaps, over that edge.”
But there was no way to find out.
“Of course, they could never know, it can’t be traced back, and other people had similar reactions.”
The scandal even triggered a government investigation in the UK, which examined whether the experiment should be sanctioned, given its global impact.
“There was an official investigation in the UK about the appropriateness of sanctions because international users were affected,” Lemov said.
However, in the end, there were no real consequences.
“After all, it doesn’t seem that any sanctions were applied to those involved. On the contrary, most were promoted.”
No one was held accountable. No warnings. No accountability.
And we are left with a pressing question: how many other experiments like this are currently being conducted - right under our noses?
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/305723844_Facebook's_Emotional_Contagion_Experiment_as_a_Challenge_to_Research_Ethics
Joe Rogan Experience #2322 with Rebecca Lemov:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDkHCaNAo_w
Rebecca Lemov is a historian of science at Harvard University and has been a visiting scholar at the Max Planck Institute. Her research explores data, technology, and the history of human and behavioral sciences.
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