Brits are rapidly losing faith in social media

Research from Top10VPN.com indicates Brits are beginning to lose trust in social media after several sagas question the credibility of the platforms.

The Cambridge Analytica scandal is the most noteworthy, but various data breaches, not only from social media platforms, are perhaps making users question the logic of storing so much personal information in one place, while the continued troubles around fake news shake the foundations.

Looking at the study, 52% of the respondents stated they trust the platforms less than last year, while 24.7% are spending less time on social media sites and 22% are removing some personal information. On the more dramatic side, 6.4% are deleting all social media accounts. Younger demographics, 16-24 year olds, are more concerned with 64.9% planning to change how they interact with social media.

“This is the first true barometer of trust since the high-profile Cambridge Analytica scandal in March, and it paints a pretty dismal state of affairs for Facebook,” said Simon Migliano, Head of Research at Top10VPN.com. “As the well-worn saying goes, it takes years to build trust but only seconds to destroy it. The social media giant might still be basking in the glow of its robust first quarter results, but clearly the reputational fallout from the Cambridge Analytica breach isn’t going to be fixed overnight.”

In recent years, the internet giants have essentially been able to do what they want, with little fear of regulatory or public backlash, but that does seem to have changed over the last couple of months. The vast majority of companies are subject to accountability and justification, and now it seems the internet giants are going to have to get used to that as well.