Even as Facebook seems to be firefighting data breach allegations post the former consulting firm Cambridge Analytica scandal, the embers refuse to cool down. According to a new Pew Research Center’s survey, there has been a significant drop in the number of Facebook users.
Sample the findings:
- Just over half of Facebook users ages 18 & older (54%) have adjusted their privacy settings in the past 12 months.
- Around 4-in-10 (42%) say they have taken a break from checking the platform for a period of several weeks or more.
- Around a quarter (26%) say they have deleted the Facebook app from their cellphone.
- In all, some 74% of the users say they have taken at least one of these three actions in the past year.
The survey of US adults was conducted from May 29 to June 11 after the revelations that the former consulting firm had collected data on 10s of millions of Facebook users without their knowledge.
However, age difference too factors in among the platform users who have taken the aforementioned steps in the past 12 months.
Most remarkably, the younger age-group of 18 to 29, accounting for 44% of users, admitted to deleting the app from their phone. In contrast, the percentage of elders (ages 65 +) who took the same action stands at 12.
Likewise, the percentage of younger users who said to have adjusted the Facebook privacy settings stands at 64, while only a third of elders (ages 65 +) took this step. The Center’s earlier research had underlined that the share of younger users outnumbers the adults in using Facebook. However this time, the shares of older & younger users who have taken a break from Facebook are almost same.
Also, after the data breach allegations, Facebook had updated its privacy settings to make it easier for users to download the data the Website had collected about them.
The new survey found:
- About 1-in-10 users (9%) had downloaded personal data.
- Though relatively small in size compared to the Facebook population, these users wished to guard their privacy Online.
- Around 47% of the users had downloaded their personal data from Facebook, only to delete the app from their cellphone.
- However, 79% chose to adjust their privacy settings.
Image Credit: Pew Research Center
