About 75% S’poreans believe social media important to hold leaders accountable, Blackbox Research reveals

About 75 per cent of Singaporeans believe social media is important for holding people in power like politicians accountable for their actions, according to Blackbox Research’s white paper released on Tuesday (11 May).

The white paper, entitled “Taming the Tech Tigers: Can Global Big Tech Be Trusted With Our Future”, analyses the perceptions and expectations of over 25,000 social media users across 20 countries, including Singapore.

It revealed that Singaporeans are more likely to view social media as a tool to hold leaders accountable, with about 75 per cent said that they believe social media is important for holding people in power – like politicians – accountable for their actions.

However, Blackbox noted that Singaporeans are less convinced when it comes to social media’s actual sway on local politics, as more than half (57%) of Singaporeans feel that social media holds little to no influence on local and national politics.

Comparatively, global perceptions are more negative, with almost a third (29%) of worldwide users think social media can have a negative influence on a country’s politics.

The study found that Americans (54%) and Brazilians (52%) are the most negative about the influence of social media on local politics, reflecting the “genuine upheaval” and “disruption to traditional domestic politics” in both countries over the last five years.

Meanwhile, about 29 per cent of Singaporeans believe social media holds a positive influence on local politics, and 14 per cent think social media holds mainly a negative influence on local politics.

Infographic from Blackbox

The city-state, however, ranks “low” when it comes to data privacy tolerance, with only one in five Singaporeans are comfortable sharing different types of data.

According to the study, only about 22 per cent of Singaporeans feel comfortable sharing different types of data, compared to the global average of 29 per cent.

This is despite Singapore having one of the highest digital penetration rates in the region, said Blackbox.

In comparison, the city-state falls behind countries like Malaysia (28%), Vietnam (32%), the Philippines (39%), Thailand (45%), and Indonesia (50%).

Japanese (9%) and Australian (12%) social media users stand out as the least comfortable across all three categories of data, while users in China (43%), Thailand (45%), and Indonesia (50%) – three rapidly growing digital economies – are the most comfortable with all types of data being collected and shared, followed by India (42%) and Brazil (40%).

Infographic from Blackbox

In terms of news consumption, Blackbox found that Singaporeans are more likely to get their news from traditional media rather than looking to social media platforms.

It stated that only 13 per cent of Singaporeans get all or most of their news from social media – which is less than half of the global average of 28 per cent – while 38 per cent do not look to social media for news at all.

Blackbox cited the digital divide stemming from Singapore’s ageing population, the country’s strong stance against “fake news” or misinformation, and how social media has been recognised as part of the problem, to be the factors contributing to Singaporeans’ news consumption.

Overall, more than one in four social media users across the 20 countries surveyed said that they now get all or most of their news from social media, and only 12 per cent of the users are not getting their news directly from social media platforms.