And you can guess why: fears over their privacy. That comes to us from research conducted by public relations consultancy Edelman, reports CNBC. A full 4 out of every 10 people surveyed said they’d closed at least one of their social media accounts in the past year. As Edelman CEO Richard Edelman told CNBC:
“We learned that there is a serious lack of confidence in social media in all regions of the world. This is a cry from the heart; people are scared. They are outraged about the violation of their privacy, and uncertain about the truth because of the plague of fake news.”
The firm polled 9,000 people in Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, the United Arab Emirates, the U.K., and the U.S. Among its other findings:
- 70% of respondents think businesses and advertisers should put pressure on social media sites to address fake news and remove offensive content.
- 48% blame the brand if its advertising appears next to violent content or hate speech.
- 62% want more regulation on social media networks.
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