Social media in South-east Asia: skeptical Singaporeans rank first

JUST one in five (22 per cent) Singaporeans are comfortable with how their data is being used by social media giants.

This figure is lower than comfort levels reported in other parts of South-east Asia, including Malaysia (28 per cent), Vietnam (32 per cent), the Philippines (39 per cent), Thailand (45 per cent) and Indonesia (50 per cent), according to a study conducted by Blackbox Research.

This is despite Singapore's reputation as a world-leading digital economy and having the second-highest digital penetration rate in the region.

More specifically, Singaporeans are relatively comfortable sharing their online behavioral data, but are more wary of their personal and attitudinal information being used in exchange for digital services due to higher levels of discernment among Internet users, according to Blackbox Research CEO David Black.

This comes as more people are growing suspicious of Big Tech's proliferation into users' daily lives through tracking of user interactions, transactions and personal information.

The report also shows that Singaporeans are less reliant on social media platforms for their news content than the rest of the world. While 28 per cent of all respondents in the survey get all or most of their news from social media platforms, only 13 per cent of Singaporean respondents do so.

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Conversely, 38 per cent of Singaporeans do not get their news from social media at all, in contrast to the global average of 12 per cent, due to an ageing population and the state's scepticism towards the proliferation of misinformation made possible through social media channels. This risk has been highlighted by the spread of "fake news" throughout the pandemic.

Fifty-seven per cent of Singaporeans report that social media has little to no influence on domestic politics. This is the highest among all South-east Asian countries studied, the next highest at 44 per cent in Malaysia, followed by Thailand at 42 per cent. The global perception, however, is more negative, with 29 per cent of users who think that social media has negatively affected political dynamics.

Conversely, 29 per cent of Singaporeans believe social media to be a positive influence on domestic politics, with 75 per cent viewing it as a vehicle for accountability checks than as a platform for expressing diverse opinions.

Moving forward, Mr Black stressed the importance of cooperation between regulators and social media giants.

"It is a delicate balancing act for both regulators and social media companies," he said, adding that digitalisation and the use of data will only accelerate in Singapore's data-driven economy and especially in view of the pandemic. He foresees greater public discussion on issues like credibility, ease of access, privacy, security and ethics of user data in social media platforms.

"So (regulators and social media giants) will need to work together to understand how best to build greater trust, or risk seeing social media's role diminish in the near future."

The report, "Taming the Tech Tigers: Can Global Big Tech Be Trusted With Our Future?", took responses from over 25,000 people across 20 countries, including the United States, Germany, South Africa, India and six Asean countries. It was conducted in March 2021, with a minimum sample size of 1,000 respondents from each country and sample size of 1,338 for Singapore.