With super-shopping days Black Friday and Cyber Monday approaching, new research explores Americans’ growing unease with online privacy and the misuse of their personal information. According to the findings from personal data removal service Incogni and VPN provider NordVPN, almost half of Americans (44 percent) expressed their desire to have their online information deleted, with most people being concerned about their financial information.
The new report, based on a survey of 1,000 adult Americans conducted by Cint, finds that the increased e-commerce activity around Black Weeks means that consumers end up sharing a lot of personal data, including financial information, with companies. Cybercrimes peak during this period each year, appearing to justify consumers’ fears. In 2023, account takeover attacks increased by 85% on Black Friday, and phishing emails spiked by 237%. The research examines consumers’ attitudes toward data collection to understand the level of control they wish to have over their personal information.
Results show that nearly half of respondents (44%) want to delete their online information, with most respondents (64%) expressing a desire to remove their financial data, making it the most desired category for protection. More than 1 in 3 (37%) respondents believe their personal data has already been leaked at least once, prompting fears that financial information may fall into the hands of cybercriminals. Yet, while financial security remains paramount, the survey reveals that the primary driver for data removal is a sense of exploitation: 48% of respondents feel “used” by companies that profit from their data without consent.
“Consumers are becoming more aware of how companies often profit at their expense. More of them are looking to take back control and regain a sense of ownership over their personal information. Aggressive targeted marketing and the collection and sale of consumers’ personal data, especially around Black Friday and the holiday season, isn’t going as unseen as before, and it heightens their mistrust,” said Darius Belejevas, head of Incogni. “Increased transparency and a greater focus on personal privacy would not only benefit consumers but can also serve to improve customer relations.”
The findings also point to a generational divide
Nearly half of Gen Z respondents reported feeling “used” as a reason for wanting to remove their personal information from the internet. Still, the number of respondents among Gen Z wanting to delete their online data is significantly lower than among older groups. The difference doesn’t appear to stem from a greater feeling of trust among the younger generations given that over one-third of Gen Z respondents report a general distrust of the internet, but may rather signal either a growing acceptance of the internet’s commercial nature or a shift toward routine data sharing in digital life.
A notable gender gap also emerged, with women expressing greater concern in almost all areas analyzed by the researchers
This includes a greater desire to remove their information from the internet, with 47% of women and 42% of men expressing this desire, and comparatively higher levels of concern over each type of information presented in the survey. Far more women (40%) than men (20%) want to remove unflattering photos and videos, for example. More women (46%) than men (43%) also expressed concern about malicious actors finding their medical information. When it came to information they would like to access about others, women showed much higher levels of interest in criminal records, with 42% wanting to learn about others’ criminal records compared to 32% of men. The converse was true for dating and sex-life details, with 22% of men showing interest in learning this kind of information compared to only 15% of women.
“The difference in responses from men and women speaks volumes. Women’s stronger concern for data protection reflects a broader awareness of potential risks,” said Belejevas . “It also reinforces how varied privacy needs can be, underlining the need for a nuanced approach to consumer protection and for privacy tools that address diverse user sensitivities.”
Read Incogni’s blog post here for more information.
This research was commissioned by NordVPN and carried out by Cint between June 28 and July 10, 2024. A total of 6,800 adult respondents (18 years and older) from the US, UK, Canada, Germany, France, Spain, and Italy were surveyed. Researchers placed quotas on respondents’ gender, age, and place of residence to achieve a nationally representative sample among internet users. Participants were asked a series of questions designed to gauge their feelings about online privacy, motivations for data removal, and views on data-sharing norms. This analysis by Incogni researchers includes results only from US respondents, which were analyzed to identify trends and differences with respect to age and gender in the US.
