Let Users Sell Their Data to Facebook
Consumers should be able to decide if, and how much, they want to be paid for personal information.
People power.
Photographer: Loic Venance/AFP/Getty Images
It’s easy to be outraged by the revelation that Facebook has been paying users between the ages of 13 and 35 up to $20 a month to allow practically unlimited access to their smartphone usage data. But outrage about the social media giant is so 2017. The latest dubious practice could be an opportunity to consider a more finely tuned business model than the one Facebook uses today.
According to an investigation by Josh Constine for TechCrunch, the young users are paid for installing an app called “Facebook Research,” offered through the beta-testing services Applause, BetaBound and uTest, not directly by Facebook. The app asks users to install a root certificate, which gives Facebook access to pretty much everything the phone contains, from private message exchanges to location data. This sounds like spying on young people who may not understand what they're allowing, and appears to contradict Apple's app store policies. After the TechCrunch report came out, Facebook said it would remove the app from the store; it would still be available for Android phones, though.