Comic #172 : "OkCupid"

What OK Cupid has said is correct, websites do tweak how they work to see what works and what doesn't work in order to refine their systems. Obviously, the question is, where it stops being about that refinement and starts being experimentation for experimentation's sake.

I think that what Facebook and OkCupid did are just within that definition. Facebook needs to work out ways to determining which posts have the highest success rate with users, and OK Cupid's job is to match people up, so they need to see what influences that.

Where it would cross the line is if they attempted to influence things beyond what people use the website for. eg: if Facebook tried to influence who you were friends with, or if OK Cupid attempted to match you up with someone deliberately inappropriate.