January 2022

Key Findings from Global Research on Online Privacy Among Gen-Zand Millennials
Introduction
Snap is committed to prioritizing the privacy and safety of our community. As part of thisongoing focus, we recently commissioned research with young people to better understandhow privacy inﬂuences online behavior among Gen-Z and Millennials across 11 international
markets, including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Saudi Arabia,Sweden, UAE, UK, and USA.
Today, as we mark Global Privacy Day, we are releasing our ﬁndings and are also launching
new in-app tools and resources informed by them to help strengthen the privacy ofSnapchatters and prevent account hacking. In the coming months, Snap will continue
expanding our privacy eﬀorts with additional in-app improvements and educational resources
for our community.
Methodology
This research was commissioned by Snap and executed by KR & I. Interviews were conducted
between July 23 - August 26, 2021 among a sample of 13,519 daily social/communication app
users aged 13-40 in 11 international markets including (Australia, Canada, France, Germany,Netherlands, Norway, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, UAE, UK, and USA). Quotas were used to ensure
minimum representation of 200 13-17-year-olds, 500 daily Snapchat users, and 500
non-Snapchat users (never use Snapchat, but use other social and communication apps) inevery market. Recruitment in each market was balanced to be nationally representative. Data
were not reweighted prior to analyses, which included group comparisons, exploratory factor
analysis (EFA), segmentation, and correlational analysis. The results in this report refer to thetotal international sample and separate reports will be released for individual markets. Parentalconsent was required for minors between the ages of 13-17 before participation in the survey.
Key Global Findings
1. Gen Z and Millennials care deeply about online privacy.
● 80% of respondents consider privacy in general to be important and 81% consider
online privacy important. However, only 65% of respondents are satisﬁed with their
online privacy.
● Daily Snapchat users are more satisﬁed with their online privacy (70%) than
non-Snapchat users (60%).

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On a 7-pt scale, 81% of users consider online privacy important (Top 3 Box, darkest shades of grey); 65% ofusers are satisﬁed with their online privacy (Top 3 Box; darkest shades of grey).

2. Beyond security, privacy on social/communication apps also oﬀer young people
three distinct beneﬁts making them comfortable with: 1) Relaxation; 2)
Understanding & Expressing themselves; and 3) Avoiding Social Judgment.
● Almost 70% say that privacy makes them feel more comfortable understanding andexpressing themselves.
● 61% say that privacy protects them from feelings of social judgment, like protecting
themselves from what other people think and say.
● 75% of users think it's important that the social apps they use care about and protect
their privacy.
● 59% of users say privacy and data security concerns impact their willingness to shareon social/communication apps.

3. Young people want the platforms they engage with to both care about andprotect their online privacy. These privacy concerns also impact their online
behavior.

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75% of respondents think it's important that the social apps they use care aboutand protect their privacy.
59% of respondents say privacy and data security concerns impact their willingness
to share on social/communication apps.
Millennial respondents (aged 35-40) were more likely to say that privacy concerns
impact their willingness to share on social/communication apps (65%) than Gen Z
respondents (55%).

75% of users think the apps they engage with should care about and protect their privacy.

4. For privacy issues, respondents are most concerned about what happens to thecontent they create and share, and how their information is used.
● 28% of respondents are concerned about other people being able to share theirposts or information without their knowledge or consent; 27% of respondents areconcerned about their in-app activity being tracked; and 26% of users areconcerned about being asked to share personal information in order to open anaccount.
● Gen Z respondents (13-24) care more about ‘Other people being able to share theirposts or information without their knowledge or consent.’● Millennial respondents (25-40) care more about ‘Knowing that their in-app activity is
being tracked.’
Biggest Privacy Concerns Among Social/Communication AppUsers
Other people being able to share my posts/information28%
without my knowledge or consent
Knowing that my activity in the app is being tracked

27%

Being asked to share personal information to open an
account

26%

Receiving spam messages

24%

Getting trolled or bullied by others who use theapp/website

22%

Seeing fake news or suspicious content

22%

Knowing that my posts and/or messages are stored
permanently

22%

The broader public being able to see what I say and do

20%

Privacy settings being hard to ﬁnd and/or diﬃcult to use

18%

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The company’s privacy policy being diﬃcult tounderstand18%

Seeing personalized ads

15%

5. The features that increase trust in online platforms depend more on enhancing
respondents’ control over what they share and who can see their activity than onprivacy policies.
● ‘The ability to delete content’ (29%) and ‘The ability to block speciﬁc people’ (28%)
are the features most likely to increase users’ sense of trust and security insocial/communication apps.
● ‘The ability to hide content from speciﬁc people’ (22%), ‘The ability to go incognito’(22%), and ‘Receiving an alert if someone takes a screenshot or records a message’(22%) were the next most likely to increase users’ trust.
● Nearly 1/4 (23%) of all respondents rarely or never read privacy policies; most read
privacy policies some of the time (52%).
Features Most Likely to Increase User Trust/Security inApps
The ability to delete content

29%

The ability to block speciﬁc people

28%

The ability to hide content from speciﬁc people

22%

The ability to go incognito/private

22%

Receiving an alert if someone screenshots orrecords my posts or messages

22%

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