FACEBOOK PAYS ITS USERS TO USE VPN THAT SNOOPS

It has been paying users to download Research app, gather data

Soon after Facebook drew global flak for planning to integrate its three power-house messaging platforms - Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram - into one giant data quarry, the social media platform has been caught paying teens and young adults for (almost0 unfettered access to their phones.

Desperate for data on its competitors, Facebook has been secretly paying people to install a "Facebook Research" VPN that lets the company suck in all of a user's phone and web activity, similar to Facebook's Onavo protect app that Apple banned in June and that was removed in August, TechCrunch reported.

In an investigation, TechCrunch confirms that Facebook avoids the AppStore and rewards teenagers and adults to download the Research app.

This enables Facebook to get root access to network traffic in what may be violation of Apple policy so the social network can decrypt and analyze their phone activity.

Facebook acknowledged that it was running the Research program to harvest data on usage habits.

Since 2016, Facebook has been paying users (between 13 years to 35 years) up to $20 per month plus referral fees to sell their privacy by installing the iOS or Android "Facebook Research" app.

Facebook even asked users to screenshot their Amazon order history page.

The program is administered through beta testing services Applause, BetaBound and test to cloak Facebook involvement, and is referred to in some documentation as "Project Atlas"- a fitting name for Facebook's effort to map new trends and rivals around the globe.

The strategy shows how far Facebook is willing to go and how much it's willing to pay to protect its dominance - even at the risk of breaking the rules of Apple's iOS platform on which it depends.

The situation could further chill relations between the tech giants, Apple's Tim Cook has repeatedly criticised Facebook's data collection practises.

Facebook disobeying iOS policies to slurp up more information could become a new talking point..