Daily Mail worried that Facebook’s rainbow photos are a ‘psychological test’
The Daily Mail is worried that rather than wanting to show support for equality, Facebook introduced rainbow profile pictures as a “psychological test”.
In honour of this month’s Pride celebrations and the US Supreme Court’s verdict on same-sex marriage, the social network unveiled a tool that allows users to show their support for LGBT people by superimposing a rainbow flag over their profile pictures.
More than 26 million Facebook users have applied a rainbow filter to their profile picture – with countless brands, politicians and celebrities also taking part, gathering over 500,000,000 comments.
However, the Daily Mail is worried that it is all in fact a “psychological test” – citing the website’s research in the past into news trends and the way social media shapes opinion.
Meanwhile, the Atlantic cited a study published by Facebook in 2013, that looked at the factors surrounding people adopting an ‘=’ sign as their profile picture to show support for equal marriage.
However, a Facebook spokesperson told the Mail: “This was not an experiment or test, but rather something that enables people to show their support of the LGBTQ community on Facebook.
“The point of this tool is not to get information about people.”
Elsewhere, homophobes on Facebook are protesting against the trend of ‘rainbow’ Facebook pictures – by superimposing the American flag over their face.
