Web designer Eric Meyer received media support for his criticism of the Facebook algorithm on Christmas Eve. The popular social media website inadvertently triggered memories of his deceased daughter through the "Year in Review" function that was rolled out to users as 2014 comes to an end. For Mr Meyer, the year may not end quickly enough, as it was the time period in which he lost his daughter, Rebecca.
In his "Inadvertent Algorithmic Cruelty" post, published on his meyerweb.com site on December 24, Mr Meyer explained to readers that he "didn't go looking for grief" on that day, but he was forced to confront the emotion due to the "designers and programmers" at Facebook:
"The Year in Review ad keeps coming up in my feed, rotating through different fun-and-fabulous backgrounds, as if celebrating a death, and there is no obvious way to stop it."
However, due to the web savviness that his occupation requires, Mr Meyer did find out how to terminate the function and shares it with readers. But, he adds that the drop-down menu that is available is "practically insider knowledge", as he believes that a major segment of the social media platform's users do not know it exists.
The web designer also pointed out other Facebook users who might have been affected, such as the friends of a female named Chloe, or even just "anyone who had a bad year". He identifies the "happy, upbeat, good-life user" as the "ideal user" that the "Year in Review" is aimed at, rather than the "other" users.
But Mr Meyer does not blame the world's most used social media service. He writes that because his unwanted photo slideshow is the product of "code, it's just unfortunate." He further explains that "Algorithms are essentially thoughtless."
Those who supported Mr Meyer included influential technology writer Om Malik, who called for "empathetic systems" as well as an enhanced algorithm. Meanwhile, social media marketers await major changes from Facebook's algorithm in January, as promotional content is expected to disappear.