Data Recovery Digest

It's no secret that some celebrities were only made famous – and rich – as a result of social media. YouTube is perhaps the biggest and most visible example of social media site that actually pays ordinary consumers who create content, and the site has experienced explosive growth as a result. Will other social media sites soon follow suit?

According to Andrew Yang and the Data Dividend Project (DDP), anyone who makes creative content and posts it on a social media site should be paid for their efforts. The new initiative hopes to "pave the way for a future in which all Americans can claim their data as a property right and receive payment."

A Growing Front

This isn't the first time an effort has been made to give consumers greater control over their data. While there have been many recent proposals aimed at consumers, most of them revolve around online data privacy.

An example of this can be found in the California Consumer Privacy Act, or CCPA, which went into effect in 2020. Per the CCPA, consumers can easily remove their personal information from organizational databases and even prevent companies from selling their personal data to third parties.

The CCPA is certainly a step in the right direction – but it doesn't provide any compensation for content creators. Regardless, Andrew Yang and the Data Dividend Project hope to use the CCPA as a launch pad for their own initiative.

For now, the Data Dividend Project is planning to use {{https://www.paypal.com|PayPal}} as a means of ensuring content creators get paid for their work. While there is still a long way to go, and a lot of work left to be done before any sort of standardized plan is in place, the group is hopeful that new laws will be made to compensate content creators across all social media platforms.

Yang was recently quoted as saying: "You can imagine thousands and even tens of thousands of Americans getting something in their PayPal or Cash App. Even something like $20, $50, or $100, and they’ll tell their friends, and we can change practices industry-wide."

'''Creating Content Isn't as Easy as it Looks'''

While it certainly appears that social media celebrities have it easy, the life of an online star isn't as easy as it appears. Between coming up with new ideas, uploading and editing content, and navigating their own online communities, it tends to be a rather time-consuming and arduous task.

There are other issues, too, like copyright claims and even the potential to have your entire social media profile shutdown without warning. It's nice to fantasize about social media sites that pay their users to create and upload content, but there are some serious nuances and obstacles to overcome.

Whether or not we'll see any laws signed into place regarding payment for content creators remains to be seen. However, it some platforms are already taking steps in the right direction. {{https://www.facebook.com|Facebook}} recently made headlines when they offered payment for some users who participate in beta testing, and it's a practice that continues to gain traction.