Prolific

I was an active participant on Prolific for well over a year. My identity was verified, I completed studies carefully, and I maintained my account in good standing. When my account was unexpectedly placed on hold, I followed the process Prolific directed me to use.

Before submitting my appeal, I reviewed every reason Prolific publicly lists as grounds for restricting an account, including:

Using a VPN or otherwise misrepresenting location
Using AI, bots, scripts, or automation tools to complete studies
Creating multiple accounts or sharing an account
Providing false information regarding identity, location, or experience
Manipulating the platform to gain an unfair advantage
Providing poor-quality or low-effort responses
Failing identity verification

None of these circumstances applied to my account.

Prolific instructed me to submit an appeal and stated that a member of their Support Team would review my account history. However, at no point was I informed which specific concern or rule allegedly applied to my account.

As a result, I was unable to provide targeted evidence, documentation, or any meaningful rebuttal during the review process. It is impossible to defend against an allegation when the allegation itself is never disclosed.

After what Prolific described as a "thorough manual review," I was informed that my account would remain restricted. I was further informed that Prolific would not provide any details regarding the review, that the outcome was final, and that no further appeals or reinstatement requests would be considered.

My concern is not that Prolific has rules. Every platform has rules. My concern is that Prolific presents users with an appeal process while withholding the information necessary to make that appeal meaningful.

A fair review process requires basic transparency. If a company permanently removes access to an account, it should at minimum identify the specific concern that led to the decision so the user has an opportunity to respond. In my case, no such information was provided.

Based on this experience, I cannot recommend supporting a platform that permanently restricts long-term users without providing a reason and then closes all avenues for further review.

Unlike other survey sites it pays what it says you will get for a survey. The offered amount tends to be better for your time than others I have tried.
If you pay attention and actually take the surveys I have had very few come back and complain and want the submission amount back.

I have been a participant on Prolific for well over 2 years now. They were a good site - lots of interesting surveys and always paid reasonably and fairly quickly. I never had anyone expressing any problems with my work and my surveys were always approved by the people giving them.

But since July 2021 I stopped receiving any survey invites and no surveys were showing up on the site itself. I checked my profile status and there appeared to be no problems so I followed the advice on their FAQ and didn't contact them until 2 months had passed with no surveys whatsoever. When I did contact Prolific, it took them over a week to answer me and then I was told this:
'I'm afraid you won't be able to take part in further studies on Prolific because your account has failed one or more of our automated checks, as well as our manual review. Unfortunately, I can't give you any further information about the specifics of these checks and won't be able to reverse the decision.'

Unbelievable treatment from this site after several years of diligent and honest work. I've done nothing wrong whatsoever and now I'm suddenly banned without any warning or even the decency to let me know what's happened? Truly a despicable and vile site. Like all survey sites, they will ban you as soon as you start doing well without any explanation. Oh yeah, and they'll slander you as well without providing any proof of wrongdoing. Avoid this site at all costs unless you like being ripped off and insulted.