Sources: CBC Toronto Star Financial Post Business Wire Bloomberg
Back in 2017, a story that got memory holed in the 24 hour news cycle broke about a government funded social media app called the Carrot App that rewards users, through various points programs, for exercising and eating healthy. While the story appears benign on face value, in hindsight, it offers a glimpse of what the framework of a western social credit system would look like.
A free app that’s all carrot, no stick — offering users loyalty points for completing quizzes and surveys about healthy living — has gotten a $1.5 million boost from the Ontario government. The Toronto-based company behind it said “we are a nation so addicted to our phones and also incredibly addicted to our loyalty points … so why not create something much more targeted, much more efficient” and more fun than a government advertising campaign, said Andreas Souvaliotis, the CEO of Carrot Insights, in a telephone interview. The Carrot Rewards app — which already has a quarter of a million Ontarians signed up — provides information and gives users a chance to earn points by answering short surveys and builds up user profiles, and “the beauty about the app is once it knows you well, it can target you with much more specific (information),” he also said. The points plans available include Aeroplan, Petro Points, Scene (Cineplex) and More Rewards.
Apparently, the various government agencies in Canada purchased the initial points for Carrot Insights to distribute to its users.
Carrot Rewards purchases points from the plans, which it then sells to governments. The company makes its money on points, “and we only make money if we are making a difference, if people don’t participate … they don’t earn points and we don’t earn money,” he added.
Ontario wasn’t the only part of Canada where the app was launched and it received $5 million in additional funding from Canada’s national government.
The app is already in use in British Columbia and Newfoundland/Labrador, and the federal government also jumped on board, pledging $5 million to cover the cost of the initial sign-up points and the bonus rewarded for referring friends.
Of course, this isn’t a privately developed app that was subsidized, it was developed with government funding.
Carrot Rewards was developed with the help of the Public Health Agency of Canada as well as health-based charities.
Fast forward to 2020 and Carrot Rewards is purchased and rebranded by Optimity and has branched out into mental health, financial literacy and COVID19 “safety” education as well as general attitudes about vaccines. The new app is also not above sharing your data with third parties
The Optimity app, which began beta testing in mid-2020, is currently rolling out to the 1M legacy Carrot Rewards user community and the 500,000 additional consumers that signed up for the wait list. In November, while undergoing beta testing, the app reached #1 in the app store for health and wellness multiple times. This new version of the consumer-focused Optimity app incentivizes users for reaching step targets and completing short quizzes that provide education on body, mind, and finance topics ranging from COVID-19 safety education, early screening for diseases, mental health awareness, and smart financial wellness education. Optimity is available for download by Canadians across the country from the App Store and Google Play.
As reports of frozen accounts linked to convoy donations continue to roll in, members of the Commons finance committee spent Tuesday afternoon questioning staff from the Canada Revenue Agency and the departments of Finance and Justice about the controversial emergency measures that allow police to lock bank accounts of those suspected of funding the illegal protests without first obtaining a court order.Just to be clear, a financial contribution either through a crowdsourced platform or directly, could result in their bank account being frozen? Conservative MP Philip Lawrence asked Department of Finance Assistant Deputy Minister Isabelle Jacques."Yes," she replied.They didn’t have to actively be involved in the protest, they didn’t have to be here in Ottawa at one of the blockades?Lawrence asked.No, not themselves,” she replied. “It could be indirectly.”