FB and IG Paying People to Delete Accounts

Wow Mark Zukerburg, you never cease to amaze and confuse us. Facebook and Instagram have already sent out some surveys to certain users asking them how much they would be willing to be compensated to delete their account for a certain period of time. Here is a tweet with a screen shot shared by a Washington Post reporter...

This is all part of a research study that Facebook is hosting as they dive into the impacts Social Media has on news and the upcoming election. According to Facebook and the research team developing the data, they are expecting between 200,000 to 400,000 members to be included in the study and participate.

Enter your number to get our free mobile app

Here is an a section from the Facebook Research Initiatives Page that helped me understand a bit better of what they are doing:

"Facebook has become a stage for democratic debate – between citizens, between candidates and voters, and for campaigners and advocacy groups to make their arguments too. That means Facebook and other social media companies have a big responsibility. This research is part of Facebook’s wider effort to protect elections. As a company, we’ve looked hard at what went wrong with Russian interference in 2016 and made some big changes. There are now three times as many people working on safety and security issues, more than 35,000 in total, and we work closely with government and law enforcement. Facebook has helped fight interference in more than 200 elections since 2017 and reduced fake news on its platform by more than 50%, according to independent studies. This research won’t settle every debate about social media and democracy, but we hope and expect the researchers will advance society’s understanding of the intersection of technology and democracy. The answers will help us all to shape the rules of the road for the internet – for the benefit of our democracy, and society as a whole."

Pretty deep stuff there facebook. I still am not super clear on how paying people to delete their accounts for 1 to 6 weeks is going to help build research on elections but hey, I am sure these researchers are far smarter than me and they must have some sort of plan. Consider my attention peaked, I am curious what they come out with mid 2021, when they say the research will become available to the public.

Would you take $120 from Facebook to deactivate your account for 6 weeks?