“Should I Stay or Should I Leave?”: Exploring (Dis)continued Facebook Use After the Cambridge Analytica Scandal

Abstract

Social media platforms bring both benefits and risks which have been documented copiously in extant academic literature. A range of issues related to privacy and trust inhibit the fulsome enjoyment of social media by users. In 2018, several news sources documented that Cambridge Analytica acquired psychographic data for Facebook users and used that data to target ads for the November 2016 US election. Although none of the news reports indicated that Facebook was complicit in this matter, some Facebook users publicly announced they would leave Facebook and encouraged others to do so. Using in-depth interviews with 10 undergraduate and graduate college students aged 18–29 years, this research study explores decisions to stay with or leave Facebook following the Cambridge Analytica case as such decisions intersect with privacy concerns. While all the respondents were concerned about their privacy, many of them believed that participation in social media requires an exchange of personal data for the use of the service. None of the respondents left Facebook permanently because of the Cambridge Analytica incident. But several reported non-use and reduced use prompted by privacy concerns and other social concerns associated with the use of Facebook. Although these research interviews are centered on a very specific event, they are instructive on the various approaches to privacy patterns and trust in social media. Greater transparency, advocacy, and transnational cooperation would be critical interventions to inspire greater trust in social media platforms.