A majority of Americans have taken steps to limit Facebook’s presence in their lives, according to new Pew Research polls released on Wednesday.
Most adults on the social media platform reported they took steps to distance themselves from the site. A 54 percent majority said they at least adjusted their privacy settings, while 42 percent took a long break from using the site. Twenty-six percent deleted the app from their phone altogether.
According to the Pew Data, young adults ages 18-29 were the most likely to take those steps.
Another new Pew poll showed that only 14 percent of all adults on the site believe they have a lot of control over the content in their news feeds, though most believe they have some influence. However, most reported they haven’t looked into trying to control their feeds.
The surveys were conducted from May 29 through June 11, in the weeks following revelations that Cambridge Analytica illegally gathered data on millions of Facebook users.
The data scandal forced Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to testify in front of Congress for the first time on the privacy policy breach.
Facebook will face a second grilling on Capitol Hill today in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Twitter’s CEO Jack Dorsey will also be testifying at the hearing.
• Gabriella Muñoz can be reached at gmunoz@washingtontimes.com.
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