Facebook Is Paying Users For Tracking Their Smartphones
Facebook in a new announcement has planned to once again start paying users for being monitored. The ‘Study from Facebook’ application will monitor the user’s device, finding which apps are currently installed, duration of usage of said apps, track their location, and most importantly, record app data of users.
The monitored app data can uncover which features are being utilized in an app. The social media giant claims that it will not be able to track any specific information like messages, passwords or websites visited. The application has been launched months after Facebook’s last attempt at a user-monitoring software. Facebook Research, which was terminated after various controversies arose with the app being specifically marketed to teens, exclusively on the iPhone. The defunct app through special certification allowed itself to circumvent the App Stores and gain special access within Apple devices framework. This was a clear violation of Apple’s rules and regulations causing it to be shut down in January.
The company’s new move showcases its struggling effort in obtaining user’s data from their phones. Facebook, however, has learned a couple of things from its last public debacle. Study app will now only be available for people verified to be over the age of 18; being available exclusively on Android, where the users can choose to grant deeper access to the app. The monitoring software will now also highlight through different screens what type of user data has been collected and exactly how it’ll be used.
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Facebook has yet to specify exactly how much it will be paying the user’s to use the app. Although a recent blog post has confirmed that all research participants will be compensated. A PayPal account is mandatory for the study that will reference data that the company already has over the user and the data collected. The Study app has been launched in India and the US. Initially, only the users invited for a study by Facebook can use the app.
