Facebook's reputation taking a hit, but few would delete their profiles, poll finds

BNN Bloomberg

A cell phone user thumbs through the privacy settings on a Facebook account in Ottawa on Wednesday, March 21, 2018. , The Canadian Press

The #DeleteFacebook movement may not gain much traction in Canada, according to research released Monday.

Some Canadians have pledged to delete their profiles from the social media platform in the wake of last week’s revelation that data firm Cambridge Analytica allegedly probed as many as 50 million Facebook profiles for information to be used by Donald Trump’s 2016 U.S. Presidential campaign.

However, according to a study by the Angus Reid Institute, only four per cent of Canadians would go so far as to delete their accounts in the wake of the scandal.

Even then, Angus Reid argues, those most likely to delete their accounts aren’t among the most active of the platform’s users.

“Those planning on deleting or suspending their accounts tend to be people who are less active on Facebook in the first place,” the survey found. “Among those who use the platform once a week or less, the intention to delete or suspend totals more than one-in-four, compared to just 5 per cent among those who use the service daily.”

But the company's reputation did take a hit on the heels of the scandal, with 38 per cent of respondents saying their opinion of the company has worsened over the last month.

Embedded Image — Graphic and data courtesy of the Angus Reid Institute

Nearly 75 per cent of poll respondents said they would make changes to how they use Facebook. In addition to the four per cent who said they would delete their accounts, 41 per cent of respondents said they would check or change their privacy settings. Another 23 per cent said they would use the platform less, with another six per cent saying they would take a break from the platform or suspend their accounts.

A BNN.ca poll conducted this week found that an overwhelming majority (91 per cent of web site respondents) are not confident their online data is secure.

Meanwhile, a separate BNN.ca poll found general apathy towards social media platforms in general. When asked to choose between the importance of Facebook, Snapchat and Twitter, 82 per cent of respondents responded with ‘none of them.’