Facebook Would Have To Pay $3.50 Per Month To US Users For Sharing Contact Info, Study Finds

[Aina]

German Facebook users would want the social media platform to pay them about $8 per month for sharing their contact information, while U.S. users would only seek $3.50, according to a study of how people in various countries value their private information. From a report: The study by U.S. based think tank the Technology Policy Institute (TPI) is the first that attempts to quantify the value of online privacy and data. It assessed how much privacy is worth in six countries by looking at the habits of people in the United States, Germany, Mexico, Brazil, Columbia and Argentina. It addresses growing concern about how companies from technology platforms to retailers have been collecting and monetizing personal data. U.S. regulators have imposed hefty fines on Facebook Inc and Alphabet-owned Google’s YouTube unit for privacy violations. “Differences in how much people value privacy of different data types across countries suggests that people in some places may prefer weaker rules while people in other places might prefer stronger rules,” Scott Wallsten, president and senior fellow at TPI told Reuters. “Quantifying the value of privacy is necessary for conducting any analysis of proposed privacy policies,” he said.