Facebook and Instagram are paying users to deactivate their account. Here’s why

I was excited to find out about this because I thought I could potentially do something I’ve wanted to do for money. However, it seems that Facebook is willing to pay up to USD120 to only some Americans if they shut down their Facebook or Instagram accounts by the end of September.

The reason why Facebook is willing to pay some of their users to shut their account is that the company wants to examine the role that social media plays in U.S. elections. Facebook expects 200,000 to 400,000 people to participate.

“Representative, scientific samples of people in the US will be selected and invited to participate in the study. Some potential participants will see a notice in Facebook or Instagram inviting them to take part in the study. Study samples will be designed to ensure that participants mirror the diversity of the US adult population, as well as users of Facebook and Instagram,” said Facebook.

Those lucky few chosen would be able to choose to take part in surveys, or to deactivate their Facebook or Instagram accounts for their chosen period of time. They will also be compensated for the study.

“To continue to amplify all that is good for democracy on social media, and mitigate against that which is not, we need more objective, dispassionate, empirically grounded research,” said Facebook regarding their plan.

They also mention that it is to better understand the impact of Facebook and Instagram on key political attitudes and behaviours during the US 2020 elections. However, it appears that by the time Facebook releases the results of the new study, the 2020 election will be done and dusted.

According to Facebook, “independent data scientists” will handle the research and the results of the study won’t be released until next year. Facebook’s efforts might be able to help discover methods that could keep ‘other countries’ from using the platform to influence how Americans vote in future elections. 

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