Breaking the Cycle of Toxic Content: Can Financial Rewards Encourage Sharing Reliable Information?

A Profitable Idea for Social Networks?

You’ve probably noticed this. He arrive that toxic content or fake news is being spread en masse online. It can also prove to be a lucrative business for the platforms by attracting attention. Three researchers decided to try to break this vicious cycle by conducting a fascinating experiment. They reveal the details in an article published on The Conversation website. Specifically, they recruited Internet users and paid them financial rewards for sharing reliable information. Users then became accustomed to sharing only verified and trustworthy facts. The best part is that these good habits continued after the study ended.

Could Social Networks Implement This System Throughout the Internet?

Scientists believe so. Indeed, they found that posting credible information also generated significant activity from other Internet users. Obviously, the giants of the web can now have a high level of participation and an audience that is the basis of their economic model. Instead of financially rewarding Internet users, researchers advocate changing the reward system. In other words, the idea is to provide social recognition to users who share accurate information. This can be done using buttons that indicate confidence that he can authorize their publication and son level of accuracy. There is no doubt that this study will be carefully read by the major platforms, who can find a way to restore their image without undermining cause their profitability.

Rewarding Internet Users for Data Access

Let us recall that the possibility of rewarding Internet users who provide access to their personal data on social networks has long been studied by some scientists. In 2020, a Spanish study looked at this type compensation financial. Nikolaos Lautaris, the author of this paper, estimated that a family of four could earn up to $20,000 a year in exchange for their data. This allocated amount will also help combat the damage caused by job destruction caused by automation. If you are interested in this topic, you can always re-read our article here.

What to Remember

The researchers have decided to provide financial compensation to Internet users who share credible information. This system proved to be very effective and good habits continued after the study. This could give ideas to large social networks.