In the midst of the Online News Act negatively impacting Canadians, social media users say that they are disappointed in how the landscapes have been changing.
A recent poll conducted by Research Co., a BC-based statistics firm, found that many Canadian users are not enjoying their time online.
Despite news restrictions, over one third of Canadanns have encountered “fake news” and a quarter say they have racist content in their feeds.
When it comes to Meta’s properties, Facebook, Instagram and the new Threads, Canadians told Research Co. that they have noticed four main reasons for their decline in using the platforms: extremism, 14%, “fake news,” also 14%, toxicity, 12%, and advertising. also 12%.
On top of this, 30% of people who use X (formerly Twitter) say the platform has declined since Elon Musk’s takeover in October 2022.
Elon Musk even had 5% of Canadians saying his takeover specifically had contributed to their decline in social media usage.
Aside for Musk’s involvement, 6% said that racism has kept them from taking part in online communities, 5% said Canadian news being inaccessible had deterred them from using social media, “the algorithm” had 4% of people mad enough to slow their usage and 4% said online scams were to blame.
See also:
- ‘Unfortunate and reckless’: Meta still unwilling to comply with Canada’s Online News Act
- ‘The landscape has changed’: 2023 saw record number of rental homes registered in BC
A significant proportion of Canadians encountered harmful content or comments on their social media feed that they considered racist (27%), homophobic (22%) or offensive to people with disabilities (19%).
However, only 23% of Canadian social media users reported another user for offensive content or comments.
According to the Research Co. report, 14% of Canadians have lost a friend in real life over a social media post.
A significant number, around 70%, reportedly find it difficult to discern whether an account is real or fake—with 83% of that number being over 55-years-old.
As a way to mitigate fake accounts and predatory users, 62% of Canadians believe that they should be able to see who has looked at their profile and pictures.
What do you think of the social media landscape lately? Let us know in the comments!
