Facebook Will Pay Some Users to Not Use Platform Ahead of Election

Facebook has offered some of its customers payment in return for logging off their accounts ahead of the 2020 US presidential election. This comes as a result of a study the company is performing to see how social media affects democracy.

The company had announced earlier this week that it will be partnering with other researchers to conduct the study. Facebook estimates that around 200,000 to 400,000 users will participate. After they’ve volunteered the company will be able to watch how the participants interact with it’s products such as Instagram or Facebook.

Facebook made a comment about the project in a blog post stating: “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…”

The company is offering participants the options of $10, $15, and $20 per week depending on how long the users are asked to deactivate. Some may be asked to only log off for one week while others may be asked to leave for up to 6 weeks. The results of the study are scheduled to be released by the company as soon as the middle of next year.