I recall reading a similar article regarding Citizen Lab where the researchers were also baited through interviews for new positions or capital/sponsorship in their relevant studies.
Edit, found the previous HN article (this is the same article but on a different site, the NY Times article is no longer accessible):
Edit, found the previous HN article (this is the same article but on a different site, the NY Times article is no longer accessible):
https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/citizen-lab-toronto-under...
HN discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19006477