UPDATE: Facebook told TechCrunch it will shut down the iOS version of its Research app amid the VPS Spy reports.
Looking for a job whether it's a part-time or full-time? Maybe you want to consider what Facebook's task.
Well, it is not yet confirmed. However, there are reports saying the giant social media network Facebook has been secretly hiring people to install "Facebook Research" VPN. How does it work? The app lets the company suck in all of a user's phone and web activity.
This app is similar to Facebook's Onavo Protect app, according to TechCrunch, in which Apple banned in June and that was removed in August. The source its team made an investigation and the team found out that the social media network avoids the App Store and it rewards teenagers and adults to download the Research app. It also gives root access to network traffic, which is a violation of Apple's policy, so the social network can decrypt and analyze their phone activity.
In the same investigation of TC, the source said that since 2016, Facebook has been paying users ages 13 to 35 up to $20 per month to do the job. The company was also giving referral fees to sell their privacy by installing the iOS or Android "Facebook Research" app.
TC claimed that FB was also asking its users to screenshot their Amazon order history page. The program is administered through beta testing services like Applause, BetaBound, and uTest to cloak Facebook's involvement.
Facebook admitted what TC found out, which is running the Research program to gather data on usage habits. As of now, Apple is not yet giving any comments about this report.
Facebook has been facing controversies in 2018. Apparently, the company can't escape such issues back in 2018 and the in the previous years. In a previous report, its messaging app WhatsApp had been involved in a controversy happened in India.
On Jan. 21, WhatsApp executives announced that it is limiting the number of times a user can forward a message to five, starting on the day it is announced. The tech company vowed to fight "misinformation and rumors," according to Reuters.
Before the forwarding restrictions implemented in the platform, WhatsApp users could forward a message to 20 individuals or groups. The reason why the company implemented forwarding restrictions because of rumors spread on social media in India happened in July. The rumors caused killings and lynching attempts.
The forwarding limitation was implemented first in India. Last year, five men were killed in Maharashtra's Dhule district after rumors of kidnappings, which came from WhatsApp users. Dozens of others had been killed because of false information that started from WhatsApp, the Times of India reported.
"We're imposing a limit of five messages all over the world as of today," Victoria Grand, vice president for policy and communications at WhatsApp, said at an event in the Indonesian capital.
