U.K. Regulator Probes Facebook (FB) Following Massive Psychological Experiment

Facebook's (Nasdaq: FB) recent disclosure of conducting a psychological experiment on over half-a-million users isn't getting 'liked' by U.K. regulators.

Reports out Tuesday night have Britain's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) conducting a probe into Facebook over potential violations of data-protection laws.

This week, Facebook admitted to altering the timelines of some 700,000 users in 2012 in order to see what impact different news feeds would have on content generation; more pleasant messages evoked a series of nicer posts from users and vice-versa. The admission left more than a few Facebook users angry.

The ICO controls how personal data is used and can levy fines up to £500,000.

One spokesperson for Facebook told Reuters, It's clear that people were upset by this study and we take responsibility for it ... The study was done with appropriate protections for people's information and we are happy to answer any questions regulators may have.

Shares of Facebook closed up over 1 percent yesterday.

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