Research firm offering tech journalists money to talk social media

A market-research firm working on behalf of Facebook is offering to pay journalists hundreds of dollars to privately share their thoughts about social media, reports Rob Price of Business Insider.

Price reports, “The market-research agency Luce Research has been emailing tech reporters and other ‘thought leaders’ on behalf of the Silicon Valley tech giant and asking them to take part in interviews to discuss subjects such as security, content moderation, and ‘the integrity of information on social media’— and offering them $350 each in return.

“Multiple Business Insider employees were contacted via email on Monday, including me, as well as at least one editor at The New York Times. In the email, Luce Research said it was reaching out to ‘key opinion formers in the US in order to capture the latest thinking on these issues.’

“Among the key topics the research firm said it was interested in discussing were: ‘Security and privacy on social media.’ ‘How content shared on social media should be moderated.’ ‘Responsibility for the integrity of information on social media.'”

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