While social media officials this week were being questioned by D.C. lawmakers in advance of anticipated regulations, new research emerged that shows 18-to-29-year-olds are doing their own self-regulating.
More than one in four people have deleted the Facebook app from their phones, according to a newly released Pew Research Center study, New York Post reported.
Among millennials, the rate is much higher — 44 percent say they’ve unfriended the social media giant.
All in all, 74 percent of Facebook users say they’ve taken one of the following actions in the past year, according to the Pew data:
They’ve either:
The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence has held several hearings on social media since the 2016 election. The central topic has been foreign influence. However, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey have been grilled by lawmakers on issues ranging from user privacy and hate speech to the integrity of their business models and criminals who use digital platforms to peddle drugs, Time reported.
As Dorsey addressed lawmakers on Capitol Hill Wednesday, he read his opening statement from his cellphone to the Senate Committee, telling them he was tweeting it out.
“We‘re extremely proud of helping to increase the accessibility and velocity of a simple, free and open exchange,” Dorsey said to his 4 million followers online. “We aren’t proud of how that free and open exchange has been weaponized.”
Pew gathered its data between May 29 and June 11, giving survey respondents plenty of time to form opinions and change their behaviors in light of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, which blew up in March, 2018.
A U.K.-based political consulting firm, Cambridge Analytica did work for the Trump campaign and harvested raw data from up to 87 million Facebook profiles without the users’ knowledge. It has since shut down.
The scandal triggered calls to #deletefacebook, including from WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton. Facebook’s stock prices fell. Then rose again. Then fell again …
When it comes to social media, many of us are addicted. Could millennials be moving a social media revolution into full swing?
I have not deleted fb for my own personal reasons. I do support bringing down the the fascist regime, biggest spy tool and largest censor or activists known in the 21st century. #DeleteFacebook https://t.co/CwB7EhMIPT
— George Lennox (@PuckArks) September 4, 2018
I am curious, lot is people saying they are deleting Facebook accounts, but q on q stats shows it is growing both in profits and no’s. Who is lying? #DeleteFacebook
— Guru Prasad (@gprasad2) September 3, 2018
