Facebook to pay users to deactivate accounts ahead of US election: Report

*Tech giant purportedly will pay ‘selected members’ about $120 to deactivate their Facebook, Instagram accounts end of September 2020

*Platform seeking 200,000 to 400,000 users to take part in study to gauge impact of social media on voting

Alexander Davis | ConsumerConnect

Perhaps in an attempt to avoid some reputation knocks which the tech giant reportedly suffered four years ago, Facebook is said to be determined in ensuring that any problems it experienced during the 2016 election do not reoccur in the 2020 United States presidential election.

ConsumerConnect learnt the company announced earlier in August, that it would stop running political adverts the week before the November 3 election.

Mark Zuckerberg, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Facebook, has also published a manifesto to ensure that the platform keeps its nose clean this time around.

Now, on top of those efforts, the tech giant and leading social media platform is reportedly primed to pay users to log off before the upcoming election.

Reports indicate that Facebook is looking for 200,000 to 400,000 users to take part in a study to gauge the impact of social media on voting.

The platform will purportedly pay “selected members” up to $120 to deactivate their Facebook (FB) and Instagram (IG) accounts at the end of September, and the study will be published sometime in 2021.

Facebook said of the plan that “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.”

In an attempt to enhance objectivity of the research, the external researchers won’t be paid by Facebook and they won’t answer to Facebook either, report stated.

On signing up for the arrangement, report says if you’re hoping to snare extra $120, be patient.

This is a don’t-call-us-we’ll-call-you deal, as the social media platform says it is modelling study samples to give the survey the best chance of being scientifically accurate and representative of the US adult population.

 

“Representative, scientific samples of people in the US” will see a notice in either Facebook or Instagram inviting them to participate, according to report.

Liz Bourgeois, Spokesperson of Facebook, also tweeted that “anyone who chooses to opt-in – whether it’s completing surveys or deactivating FB or IG for a period of time – will be compensated.”

Kindly Share This Story