Is Facebook's data mining ethical?
Facebook has changed the way people announce the beginning and ending of relationships. It is the first place we go to make our new relationship “Facebook official”. However, it has also become where social media users go to vent about their recent break up and how they are moving on. In this blog post, I will be discussing the ethical situation regarding Facebook mining users’ data for signals of an upcoming break up, and Facebook helping its clients target their advertisements more precisely based on this data. I will also be discussing Facebook’s actions through the lens of different ethical prisms.
“Is it ethical for Facebook to mine its users’ posts for signals that those users are about to go through a break up?”
I truly believe this question goes back to the privacy case study in our ethics book regarding Facebook. Users must be offered information regarding what will be done with their Facebook data before they agree to the terms and conditions of creating a Facebook profile. I think if users are given the opportunity to understand their data could be mined to predict significant changes in their life and choose to agree to these terms, then it is ethical. I believe it is ethical because Facebook is a social network. It is an online community intended to utilize technology to keep in touch with friends and family across the world. If Facebook is mining this data in order to help their users best transition from a break up, Facebook is simply trying to better their social environment to best fit the needs of its users. As also discussed in this Facebook article, one commonality between men and women who experience break ups are their need for a constant community during transition, and Facebook provides just that.
“Is it ethical for the company to then help its clients target their ads based on this research?”
This question brings up an entirely different ethical question about Facebook’s actions by addressing the direct advertisement of products to those experiencing a break up. I believe even though this is coming from a client of Facebook’s advertising, which is an outside source strictly using Facebook to better target and grow its consumers, it still aligns with my point stated in the paragraph above. If Facebook users are given the opportunity to understand that their data may be utilized to create programmatic advertising to better appeal to the “audience of one” and then choose agree to these terms and conditions, it is ethical. However, I believe Facebook’s privacy agreement must be transparent in what exactly will be done with users’ data in order to avoid discrepancy of understanding. The ethics of this question falls more on the advertising agencies rather than on Facebook, because other than the cost Facebook charges advertisers, these brands are the ones that are essentially profiting off of a user's break up. From an advertising perspective, this is a creative and efficient way to better target consumers, however, I understand how this would pose an ethical question.
“Is what Facebook is doing different from what other companies do?”
In comparison, don’t funeral services and florists profit off of people dying? How is Facebook situation any different?” These are the questions I asked myself when comparing how other companies profit off of the situations of consumers. It would be naive not to think that most doctors monitoring the health of their patients recommend certain hospitals for them when their health is decreasing. This is similar to Facebook monitoring its users’ information to predict drastic lifestyle changes and profit off of this by allowing their clients to better advertise to this market by using their research. Therefore, I do not think what Facebook is doing in this situation is any different than what other companies do.
Now, I will be looking at Facebook’s actions through different ethical prisms. By doing this, I am able to better understand this ethical dilemma.
Through the utilitarian ethical principle, Facebook’s actions provide a loving community during a break up, and this is instilling a main idea of utilitarianism, which is to “prevent pain and promote pleasure.” Facebook is preventing the pain of having its users go through a break up alone, by providing a positive community to rely upon during this time of change. By allowing its clients to use this data, Facebook is also implementing this utilitarian idea by allowing advertisements to be better targeted to consumers who could find happiness in their products and prevent pain at the same time.
When looking at Facebook’s actions through the ethical prism of rights, I am able to see an opposing perspective. According to Rawls’ method of the veil of ignorance, “justice emerges when negotiating without social differentiations.” Therefore, it is not ethically justified for Facebook to provide data to their clients based on whether or not they are experiencing a break up, because essentially a relationship status is a social differentiation.
Through the ethical prism of justice, I found Facebook’s actions a little more difficult to analyze. For whom are we seeking justice? Facebook’s users? Facebook itself? The advertising clients of Facebook? When analyzing the aspect of justice for Facebook’s user, which is the group I think this situation calls me to address, I believe again if you allow the user to have the decision-making power to allow or not allow their data to be used for mining, then it is justified.
If I look at the situation through the ethical principle of virtue, the mean between excess and defect in Facebook’s actions is still using the data of its users with their consent. However, in order to not lean towards excess in this practice, Facebook must not completely exploit all its users’ data to Facebook’s advertising clients.
Now, I will look at the situation through the common good prism, which in this case is very similar to the utilitarian principle. Facebook’s actions create the common good because they benefit the Facebook user by providing the community needed to move past a break, while also financially benefiting both Facebook and their advertising clients. Therefore, their actions are benefiting all parties involved.
In conclusion, I believe that this article poses important ethical questions. When the questions are evaluated in depth, they provide insight into the importance of ethics of data mining on social networks.
