Facebook's Study app will pay you for your data

Facebook got into hot water earlier this year for running a program that allowed minors to hand over their phone data in exchange or compensation. The firm has learned its lesson now and is now running an open market research program with its new app: Study from Facebook. A focus of this app first and foremost appears to be transparency. Now sensitive of data abuse claims, the firm lets users know exactly what data they’ll be giving up.

“We’ve learned that what people expect when they sign up to participate in market research has changed, and we’ve built this app to match those expectations,” Facebook’s Sagee Ben-Zedeff said on Tuesday, “We’re offering transparency, compensating all participants, and keeping people’s information safe and secure.”

The firm will collect the following information:

• The apps installed on a participant’s phone
• The amount of time spent using those apps
• Participant’s country, device and network type
• App activity names, which may show us the names of app features participants are using

Facebook explicitly says it won’t be collecting private information like passwords and card details, so that should provide a sense of security.

The firm says it’ll compensate users for the participation in the app, and limits it to 18 years and older (though it notes ominously that this is at launch.) Facebook’s Study app will only be available to people in India and the US t launch, but the firm will expand its availability over time.