A research paper, reported on but not published by The Australian newspaper, was said to go into detail about how teenage users post about self-image, weight loss and other issues.

Facebook confirmed the research was shared with advertisers, but said the article was “misleading”.
"Facebook does not offer tools to target people based on their emotional state,” the network said.
"The
analysis done by an Australian researcher was intended to help
marketers understand how people express themselves on Facebook.
"It was never used to target ads and was based on data that was anonymous and aggregated.
"Facebook
has an established process to review the research we perform. This
research did not follow that process, and we are reviewing the details
to correct the oversight."
'Stressed' and 'Stupid'
According
to The Australian, the report was seen by marketers working for several
major Australian banks, and was written by Facebook executives David
Fernandez and Andy Sinn.
The document said Facebook had the
ability to monitor photos and other posts for users who may be feeling
“stressed”, “defeated”, “anxious”, “nervous”, “stupid”, “overwhelmed”,
“silly”, “useless” or a “failure”.
The research only covered Facebook users in Australia and New Zealand.
The
statement on Monday appeared to soften an earlier comment which mooted
the possibility of disciplinary action over the document, though the BBC
understands such action could still be taken, pending an investigation
into how and why the research was carried out.\
The company has
guidelines that take into account any possible “adverse effects” on
users, or whether people would reasonably expect the network to conduct
such analysis. The company said that it appeared the research did go
against some of these policies.
Facebook has faced criticism in the past over manipulating users’ feeds for the purpose of research.
In 2014 it was discovered the firm was intentionally showing 700,000 users certain types of content and seeing if their emotions could be manipulated.
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