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Do Social Media Content Controls Make A Difference?
As Ofcom gears up to enforce the Online Safety Act, its survey reveals content controls may not be making a big difference to social media users.Â
Almost half of social media users who used content controls said their experience did not change, while some even said it got worse (2%), according to new research by internet watchdog Ofcom.
Only 38% of those surveyed said using content controls improved their online experience.
The survey follows the adoption of the Online Safety Act, the regulation of which will be overseen by Ofcom in an attempt to place more protection powers into the hands of consumers to better control their online experiences.
Social media and video-sharing platforms have content controls that allow users to select and control the content they see.
New research from Ofcom’s Behavioural Insight and Research and Intelligence teams, as part of our work on media literacy, sheds light on people’s experiences.
About a quarter of users (26%) said they have used content controls at least once.
Reasons for this ranged from aligning content with interests and preferences (36%), protecting themselves from seeing something upsetting or harmful (35%), or because they had already seen something harmful or upsetting (21%).
Nevertheless, after using content controls, only 38% said their experience improved, while 44% said their experience didn’t change, 2% said it got worse, and 16% said they didn’t know.
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Around 47% in the survey said they were aware of content controls but never used them, with 22% saying they were completely unaware of them before taking part in the study.
Most did not elect to use content controls because they were happy with the content they saw (68%), or just didn’t think they needed them (66%).
Others did not trust platforms categorisation of content (26%), did not have the time (26%), or did not want to miss out on interesting content (23%).
Some found the controls too complex (14%), or could not find them in the first place (10%).
