OKCupid Falsely Matched Users in the Name of Web Science
Posted in: UncategorizedOKCupid, the dating site owned by billionaire Barry Diller’s IAC/InterActiveCorp, is the latest internet company to say it conducts psychological experiments on users.
OKCupid ran tests including analyzing the depth of conversations while users’ pictures were removed for seven hours, co-founder Christian Rudder wrote in a blog post yesterday. The website also temporarily changed its profile-rating system and told people with low compatibility scores that they were better matches than the system had really determined, he wrote.
The disclosure follows an onslaught of complaints against Facebook, which disclosed in June that experiments were conducted in 2012 to influence what users saw on their news feeds without getting permission. While the move incited concern about privacy issues, Rudder said these types of tests are needed for websites to improve their products.
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