Privacy and surveillance on social media: Awareness and tendencies of users in Turkiye

Abstract

The rapid spread of digitalization has made individuals' personal data more accessible which in turn makes privacy violations and surveillance processes more prominent. The main purpose of this paper is to assess social media users' privacy and surveillance awareness, their tendency to disclose personal information, and to discuss the effects of these processes at the individual and social level. A quantitative research design was employed. Data was collected from 800 participants through online and face-to-face surveys. Participants' social media usage habits and their attitudes toward privacy and confidentiality on social media were analyzed. The findings revealed that women have a higher awareness of surveillance and privacy violations, single individuals have a greater tendency toward privacy disclosure and privacy violation, and surveillance awareness decreases as the duration of social media usage increases. The results also indicate that participants have low awareness of surveillance and privacy violations and tend to disclose their personal information. This suggests that social media users should better understand potential privacy threats and implement higher caution and responsibility when sharing personal information.