73% of Canadians to change Facebook habits after data mining furor, survey suggests

Almost three-quarters of Canadians surveyed say recent data mining issues with Facebook will cause them to modify how they use the platform with some saying they will delete their account.

In an online survey conducted by the Angus Reid Institute, one in 10 people said they would stop using Facebook by either taking a break or deleting their account.

The Angus Reid Institute conducted two online surveys, the first between Feb. 28 and March 2, among a representative randomized sample of 1,501 Canadian adults, and the second from March 21 to 22, among a representative randomized sample of 1,509 Canadian adults.

The second survey, which fell after Cambridge Analytica was reported to have delved into Facebook data of 50 million Americans to target them with political advertising, asked about attitudes toward Facebook and whether Canadians would change their habits.

The greatest proportion of Facebook users surveyed, 41 per cent, said they would continue to use the platform, but would modify their usage and/or change their privacy settings and another 23 per cent said they'd use it less.

Twenty-seven per cent of those surveyed said the recent data-mining revelations wouldn't change how they use Facebook at all.

However, the survey found that the Facebook users who planned to delete or suspend their accounts were already less active.

Twenty-six per cent of people who used Facebook once a week or less said they'd delete or suspend their account, but only five per cent of users who logged onto Facebook daily would do the same. 

In the same survey, roughly 38 per cent of Canadians said their opinion of Facebook has worsened in the last month.

This change in opinion was across all users, the survey found, with even 33 per cent of frequent users said their opinion of Facebook had worsened in the last month.