Study: Privacy Concerns Have Caused Consumers To Change How They Use The Internet

Facebook commissioned a study by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) to understand "internet inclusion" globally, or how people use the Internet, the benefits received, and the obstacles experienced. The latest survey included 5,069 respondents from 100 countries in Asia-Pacific, the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Overall findings in the report cited:

"... cause for both optimism and concern. We are seeing steady progress in the number and percentage of households connected to the Internet, narrowing the gender gap and improving accessibility for people with disabilities. The Internet also has become a crucial tool for employment and obtaining job-related skills. On the other hand, growth in Internet connections is slowing, especially among the lowest income countries, and efforts to close the digital divide are stalling..."

The EIU describes itself as, "the world leader in global business intelligence, to help companies, governments and banks understand changes in the world is changing, seize opportunities created by those changes, and manage associated risks. So, any provider of social media services globally would greatly value the EIU's services.

The chart below highlights some of the benefits mentioned by survey respondents:

Other benefits respondents said: almost three-quarters (74.4%) said the Internet is more effective than other methods for finding jobs; 70.5% said their job prospects have improved due to the Internet; and more. So, job seekers and employers both benefit.

Key findings regarding online privacy (emphasis added):

"... More than half (52.2%) of [survey] respondents say they are not confident about their online privacy, hardly changed from 51.5% in the 2018 survey... Most respondents are changing the way they use the Internet because they believe some information may not remain private. For example, 55.8% of respondents say they limit how much financial information they share online because of privacy concerns. This is relatively consistent across different age groups and household income levels... 42.6% say they limit how much personal health and medical information they share. Only 7.5% of respondents say privacy concerns have not changed the way they use the Internet."

So, the lack of online privacy affects how people use the internet -- for business and pleasure. The chart below highlights the types of online changes:

Findings regarding privacy and online shopping:

"Despite lingering privacy concerns, people are increasingly shopping online. Whether this continues in the future may hinge on attitudes toward online safety and security... A majority of respondents say that making online purchases is safe and secure, but, at 58.8% it was slightly lower than the 62.1% recorded in the 2018 survey."

So, the percentage of respondents who said online purchases as safe and secure went in the wrong direction -- down. Not good. There were regional differences, too, about online privacy:

"In Europe, the share of respondents confident about their online privacy increased by 8 percentage points from the 2018 survey, probably because of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the EU’s comprehensive data privacy rules that came into force in May 2018. However, the Middle East and North Africa region saw a decline of 9 percentage points compared with the 2018 survey."

So, sensible legislation to protect consumers' online privacy can have positive impacts. There were other regional differences:

"Trust in online sources of information remained relatively stable, except in the West. Political turbulence in the US and UK may have played a role in causing the share of respondents in North America and Europe who say they trust information on government websites and apps to retreat by 10 percentage points and 6 percentage points, respectively, compared with the 2018 survey."

So, stability is important. The report's authors concluded:

"The survey also reflects anxiety about online privacy and a decline in trust in some sources of information. Indeed, trust in government information has fallen since last year in Europe and North America. The growth and importance of the digital economy will mean that alleviating these anxieties should be a priority of companies, governments, regulators and developers."

Addressing those anxieties is critical, if governments in the West are serious about facilitating business growth via consumer confidence and internet usage. Download the Inclusive Internet Index 2019 Executive Summary (Adobe PDF) report.