Strategies people use to be less visible online

On a lot of websites, using free email or other services comes at another price: long before the revelations of Edward Snowden about the NSA, Google, Facebook & Co. have been tracking and storing user data.

A study by the Pew Research Center has inquired about the strategies people use to decrease their visibility online. As can be seen in the chart below, 64% of adult internet users cleared their cookies and browser history to mask their online identity.

14% of users take more drastic measures and encypt their communications or use services that allow for anonymous browsing.

Description

This chart shows the percentage of adult internet users who say they have done these things online.

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Google user data requests from federal agencies and governments H2 2009-H1 2025
Share of Google user data requests by governments with disclosure H1 2023-H1 2025
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Global number of user data requests to Microsoft by law enforcement 2019-2025
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Google user data requests by U.S. federal authorities H1 2010-H2 2025
Disclosed user data requests to Google in France H1 2019- H2 2025
Facebook user data requests from federal agencies & governments H2 2024, by country

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