Facebook Will Pay Users To Log Off Before 2020 Election
It’s pay to not play.
Facebook is offering users money to refrain from using the site and Instagram in the weeks leading up to the bitterly contested November elections.
Last week, Facebook announced that it was partnering with outside researchers to study the impact its social media products have on key political attitudes and behaviors during the US 2020 elections. Facebook expects around 200,000 to 400,000 users will opt-in to the project. Once they’ve opted in, the company will be able to see how they interact with its products, including both Facebook and Instagram.
“Anyone who chooses to opt-in – whether it’s completing surveys or deactivating FB or IG for a period of time – will be compensated,” Facebook spokesperson Liz Bourgeois tweeted last week. “This is fairly standard for this type of academic research.”
To assess the impact of social media on voting, the company will pay selected members up to $120 to deactivate their accounts beginning at the end of September.
“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 on Facebook or Instagram inviting them to take part in the study,” the Silicon Valley giant said. “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.”
“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,” Facebook said in describing the plan.
The screenshots posted by The Washington Post Thursday (Sept. 3) show an Instagram pop-up asking users to select how much money they’d be willing to receive in order to deactivate their Instagram and Facebook accounts ahead of the election. Facebook gives the options of $10, $15, and $20 per week as some users would be asked to deactivate for one week while others could be asked to leave the platform up to six weeks total.
The results of the study are expected to be released sometime next year. The research will be carried out by independent data scientists, company officials said.
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