2020 reader survey: privacy, fraud and trust in Facebook and WhatsApp

In 2020, there were numerous reports of WhatsApp fraud. The criminals who have made it their profession are getting smarter and more and more people are affected. While security and privacy weren’t that important to many users in previous years (that will be fine), we are finding that more and more people are rightly wondering what is being done with their data, for example .

Trust in social networks

The internet giants are under attack. At a higher and higher level (Europe), people are wondering if these companies are not becoming too powerful and if they are playing by the rules. We asked readers which social network they trusted the least.

Almost half of readers said they did not trust any network. Facebook stands out with 26.5%, followed closely by newcomer TikTok which has been criticized in the media all year. What is striking is that Twitter and Instagram hardly arouse suspicion. It’s quite special in the case of Instagram as this app is 100% part of Facebook and the two share a lot with each other.

Messengers

WhatsApp is the Samsung among messengers, almost everyone still uses this app to exchange messages. There are many reasons to switch to another app to stay in touch with your family and friends, why not us?

You don’t need a messenger where your friends aren’t and that’s the great advantage of WhatsApp. Almost a quarter of users agree that they would actually like to stop using WhatsApp, but not because of all of their contacts. Half of them have no problem with WhatsApp and say they like to use the app. The rest of the app doesn’t matter, as long as they can keep in touch with their friends and family.

Telegram is currently WhatsApp’s biggest challenger when it comes to users (we don’t count Facebook Messenger). Anyone who uses this app will recognize that they are receiving more and more notifications from contacts who have also downloaded this app.

In the reader survey, we see that 20% of our readers use Telegram. This is remarkable growth, because in 2019 this percentage is less than 7%! We also recognize this growing activity our group on Telegram where we exchange tips and talk about technology and other topics on a daily basis.

Incidentally, there are more and more examples of the fact that WhatsApp can be a danger. The number of fraud attempts via WhatsApp has increased alarmingly. Up to one in ten visitors to Androidworld have been the victim of fraud or attempted fraud through the app.

Privacy and Security

Privacy is an important “good” and we are rightly asking more and more questions about it. Are companies using data that I haven’t given permission for? Is my data stored correctly and securely? We put the following statement to readers:

Half of the respondents say they have well protected their privacy. Just over 11% say no, but at least they know it. The 36.3% who say they don’t really know tell us that we need to provide more information. This is also one of the conclusions of our interview with the CEO of ESET.

The above conversation took place as a result of the sale of smart home devices to the Hema in action. The big question was how well you can trust a device or service when it’s so cheap.

More than half of our readers also share this concern. We fill our homes with smart lights and speakers, but we don’t really know how much of this information stores on us. And if they do so with the user’s consent, how safe is it?

Conclusion

Much remains to be done in this area. The tech giants will have to do their best to convince the user of the security of the services. The user will also have to be more critical about the services they use and what they are all authorizing. Do you recognize yourself in this story? Let us know in the comments below this article.