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Running head: SAUDI USERS’ PRIVACY PERCEPTION Privacy and Social Networking: WhatsApp Users’ Perception in Saudi Arabia Researchers: Nemah Alsayed Haifaa Alakel Ferdous Mohammed Shaykha Khayat Safia Bawazeer BBUS 3201 Fall- 2015/2016 Dar Al-Hekma University 1

Privacy and Social Networking WhatsApp Users’ Perception in Saudi Arabia

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Page 1: Privacy and Social Networking WhatsApp Users’ Perception in Saudi Arabia

Running head: SAUDI USERS’ PRIVACY PERCEPTION

Privacy and Social Networking: WhatsApp Users’ Perception in Saudi Arabia

Researchers:

Nemah Alsayed

Haifaa Alakel

Ferdous Mohammed

Shaykha Khayat

Safia Bawazeer

BBUS 3201 Fall- 2015/2016

Dar Al-Hekma University

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Table of Content

Abstract 3

Introduction 3

Literature Review 4

Research questions and objectives 8

Methodology

Research Philosophy: Interpretivism 9

Research Strategy: Cross-Sectional Survey 9

Ethical Considerations 10

Results and Findings 10

Conclusion and Recommendation 22

References 24

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Abstract

This study investigates WhatsApp users’ perceptions of its privacy, identifying the

familiarity of privacy issues and how their actions are influenced by such knowledge, as well as

the role of trust in an online social networking environment. A cross-sectional survey design is

used. The sample frame is a network of WhatsApp friends; 500 survey responses were collected

through snowball method giving a response rate of 100 per cent. The study reveals over half of

WhatsApp’s users have a high level of privacy awareness; however, uncertainty is clear. Privacy

concerns are evident, especially relating to third parties’ access to WhatsApp users’ information.

Over half of users have not changed their privacy settings to tighter controls, even though the

users have shown a large privacy concerns. Users have disclosed a concern regarding the

acquisition of WhatsApp by Facebook, yet, privacy settings were not changing. One-quarter of

users trust WhatsApp, yet over half of users believe that they are obliged to protect their own

information.

Introduction

WhatsApp is often used as a replacement of SMS messaging, it is a smart phone

application that allows users to send messages to other WhatsApp users. It is very popular in

Saudi Arabia, and used widely by all age groups. It is considered as the most popular instant

messaging application in the world and recently been in the news concerning the privacy of its

users after its purchase by Facebook. WhatsApp have privacy issues of its own, like the poor

encryption of messages, meaning using a packet analyzing software, any “hacker” can view the

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content of the sent messages.  Each and every person has different views and perspectives

regarding privacy in WhatsApp. Therefore, this research was conducted to explore the awareness

of WhatsApp users about the privacy issues and how their awareness affects their behavior. The

researchers have chosen this topic mainly because no one have conducted the same research in

Saudi Arabia. Moreover, a complete analysis was done concerning the privacy of WhatsApp. 

Literature Review

This section discusses the different secondary resources that the researchers used and

were exposed prior to conduct the research. The research’s questions, objectives, and design

were inspired and based on those readings. However, not everything that was read by the

researchers were matching the research. Such resources were criticized.

1.      Internet Usage and Web-Applications in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia is one of the fastest growing countries in terms of internet users, according

to Communication and Information Technology Commission (CITC) the usage of Internet in the

Kingdom increased in the last few years, from 13% in 2005 to 63.7% by the end of 2014 (ICT

report, 2014). Out of the 30,770,375 population (CDSI, 2014), 64.2% of the Kingdom’s

population are internet users, which account to more than half of the population (MCIT, 2014).

Saudi Arabia is ranked in the 35th place worldwide in terms of the Internet usage (CIA, 2014).

The high availability of internet services positively relates to the increased usage of web-based

applications and social media platforms represent huge share of the accessed web applications

facilitated by the use of mobile phones. In CITC Mobility in SA report, they confirmed that the

evolution of smart devices and its availability at lower prices nowadays in the Kingdom has

changed the way users interact with the internet and applications. Usage became highly personal,

not as it used to be limited to sharing with family or work. Mobility and instant access are factors

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that provided so many opportunities to create and consume information (ICT report, 2014).  In a

research conducted by Ipsos MediaCT, under Google commission, based on sample size n=500

of smartphones in Saudi Arabia, they found that 93% visit social networks and 74% visit at least

once a day (Our Mobile Planet, 2013).

2.       Social Networking Trends

Social media trends have affected millions of users around the globe since the start of

first social networking site in 1997, they represent two thirds of the internet users (Boyd &

Ellison, 2008 as cited in O' Bien & Torres, 2012). One of the most famous social media platform

is Facebook, which alone, managed to reach 500 million users in 2010 (Wortham, 2010). As the

site became more popular, many privacy concerns were aroused by users. In 2009 they reached

climax because Facebook made all users data public by default (Rothery, 2010). On the other

hand, another famous social media platform is WhatsApp, which is an instant messaging

application similar to Facebook Messaging. (Geller, 2011) Since the first launch of the cross-

platform messaging application, WhatsApp has been used and liked by so many users and it

became a trend. The WhatsApp team reported that they handle over billion messages each day:

“The mobile messaging market is moving, choices around platforms and their pricing and

how they provide an amazing customer experience are the hot topics at hand. As a leader

in the messaging space and with the network now handling over one billion messages a

day, the researchers think that the power is with the consumer.”

(WhatsApp users now send over 1 billion messages each day, 2011).   (Goretsky, 2014)

Recently, the major company Facebook, purchased WhatsApp for 19 billion dollars (Facebook

and WhatsApp: Security and privacy after the $19B deal). The researchers wonder if this step

will concern WhatsApp users as Facebook is known for its questionable privacy controls.

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However, WhatsApp had as well privacy issues of its own, (Greenberg, 2014) like the poor

encryption of messages, meaning using a packet analyzing software, any “hacker” can view the

content of the send messages. Moreover, in 2013 the Canadian Privacy Commission found after

a study they did, that the app was collecting the numbers listed in the app user’s phone via

address books, even if they were not WhatsApp users. (WhatsApp Comes Under New Scrutiny

For Privacy Policy, Encryption Gaffs). (Abdullah, 2013) In 2013, CITC announced they will

block the social networking app WhatsApp if they do not comply with regulatory requirement of

telecommunication providers in SA. One of the requirement was to establish a local server so the

telecom operators can monitor user’s activities. (CITC: WhatsApp to be blocked before

Ramadan). WhatsApp complied with those requirement and the app was not blocked, however,

some services it provides is, like the free calling feature. Besides, CITC highlighted security

concerns as one of the major obstacles in the adaption of many ICT services in SA, especially in

remote access and internet based services, which are hosted and managed on the cloud (ICTC

report, 2014).

3.      Privacy and users’ perception

The researchers identify users' privacy perception as how well they are aware of their rights

of data protection, and to which extent they have knowledge if their data is viewed or accessed or

modified or probably used by a third party (i.e. advertising companies), with or without their

permission. Users disclose various types of information using social networking, such as

personal names, photos, birth dates, and even possibly financial data. Many researchers viewed

sharing on social media as part of social exchange theory, which considers the long-term benefits

and costs of exchanging (French & Read, 2013). The benefits include sharing empathy,

strengthening relationships, and entertainment. (Krasnova et al. 2010, as cited in French & Read,

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2013). Other researchers argued that users way of sharing information depends on the outcome

they want; outcomes based on relationships, romance, friendship, family or professionalism

differ for each user (French & Read, 2013). However, many users are unaware of possible

privacy violations risks; they share their lives publicly with others whom they share common

traits (French & Read, 2013). Researchers had evaluated privacy perception from the user’s

willingness to disclose information (Fogel and Nehma, 2009 as cited in French & Read, 2013)

and others as the ability to manage the security and privacy settings on SNSs (Debatin et al. 2009

as cited in French & Read, 2013). Many researchers confirmed that in web based virtual

communities, trust is viewed as a key factor for sharing data and information disclosure by users

(Fogel and Nehmad 2009, Hsuet al. 2011, Tsai and Cheng 2012 as cited in French & Read,

2013). As Facebook was the main trend of privacy issues, and had a broad media coverage,

many studies were conducted related to the site. One research examined Facebook users’

perception of online privacy. It aimed to find out if users’ awareness of privacy issues influences

their behavior; it believed there is a relationship between privacy and users’ trust of the site (O'

Bien & Torres, 2012). Their findings was that majority of users have not read the privacy policy

because of its length and boredom. The youngest age group (18–21) were the most active when it

came to information disclosure and frequency of use (O' Bien & Torres, 2012). While younger

users have more friends from the same age group, and they fully use the multimedia functions.

(As cited in Xie, Watkins, Golbeck, and Huang, 2012). They also believed it is more their

responsibility to protect their information on Facebook. (O' Bien & Torres, 2012). Furthermore, a

study conducted about how elders perceive social media, the initial perceptions were negative.

The participants linked social media with inappropriate teens’ behavior such as gossiping (Xie,

Watkins, Golbeck, and Huang, 2012). Older Facebook users are more likely to be cautious in

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what they say and do on Facebook in comparison to younger Facebook users besides they are the

least trusting group on Facebook and they believe it is the Facebook company’s obligation to

protect users’ information (O' Bien & Torres, 2012). Some researchers had found a difference

between older and younger population’ perception towards technology, and others found that age

does not play a role (as cited in Xie et al, 2012). Regardless of the age group, majority of users’

main concern is their information being accessible by and sold to third party and the protection

of their personal information.

Research questions and objectives

After reviewing the literature, researchers decided to conduct similar research to (O’ Bien &

Torres, 2012) Social Networking and Online Privacy: Facebook Users' Perceptions, which

examined Facebook users’ perceptions of online privacy, and their awareness of privacy issues

and how their behavior is influenced by this awareness. Researchers will conduct the study about

Privacy and Social Networking: WhatsApp Users’ Perception in Saudi Arabia, by changing the

social networking platform to WhatsApp, and the location of the study to Saudi Arabia.

The following are the research’s questions and objectives which will be answered from primary

and secondary data collections in the results and findings.

1. How do WhatsApp’s users view privacy?

a. To understand users’ perception and views of privacy.

b. To identify if WhatsApp’s users trust them with their information.

c. To find out if users think companies have obligations to protect their data.

d. To find out if users are cautious of their data being accessed by third parties.

2. Does the awareness of WhatsApp privacy issues influences users’ behavior/sharing?

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a. To identify the influence of privacy issues on users’ behavior.

b. To find out if the users read the privacy policy statements.

c. To measure how often do users change their privacy settings.

3. Is there is a relationship between WhatsApp and Facebook’s users’ privacy perceptions?  

a. To identify if privacy issues are similar especially after the purchase of WhatsApp by

Facebook.

b. To identify if users’ view of privacy vary between the two social sites.

Methodology

Research Philosophy: Interpretivism

The researchers decided to use the interpretivism philosophy to provide analysis for a

mixture of qualitative and quantitative data that will be assessed. Saudi users’ awareness of

Social networks privacy is subjective of nature as users’ perceptions vary from each user to

another. The perceptions are affected by many variables such as cultural background, age,

education, and awareness. .The data collected was of quantitative nature and the sample size was

n=500. The researchers do not aim to generalize their findings on the Saudi population. Inductive

approach was used which follows the interpretivism philosophy because there was not a

developed theory to test a hypothesis, also the inductive approach is generally associated with

qualitative research.

Research Strategy: Cross-Sectional Survey

Survey strategy was used and conducted once, using non probability sampling technique

of snowball sampling. Using mono method questionnaires were conducted only, due to time

constraint. Also, it was the most appropriate for the nature of the data that the researchers wanted

to collect. Snowball sampling was implemented by using social networking applications (i.e.

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WhatsApp and Facebook) to distribute the questionnaires in an online format, users were asked

to distribute it to their network of friends and friends of friends. This technique was used as it

was appropriate to use those sites as the researchers were be able to directly access the potential

targeted users of WhatsApp.

Ethical Considerations

The researchers will abide by all ethical considerations which include not using any false or

edited date, plagiarizing and the using information that could harm anyone in any possible way.

Due to the fact that many people dislike questionnaires and that they may feel the information

they will provide might be used inappropriately, the questionnaires to be distributed will ensure

anonymity for the participants and they are going to be approached professionally with no

pressure to answer if they would not like to. The researchers will distribute the same

questionnaire to all the participants and will not interfere in altering the results. The researchers

will comply with Saudi cultural values.

Results and Findings

This research had three main objectives, to understand users’ perception of privacy, to

identify the influence of privacy issues on users’ behavior, and to find out if WhatsApp and

Facebook users have similar privacy perceptions.

Demographics variables of gender and age groups were of great importance in analyzing

the awareness level, perceptions, and behaviors. The researchers think that due to the cultural

values and perceived ethics in Saudi Arabia, gender plays an important role in perception and

behavior part. The researchers had the first impression before analyzing the results, that females

in Saudi Arabia might be a little conservative, more cautious, and may tend to consider

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consequences before sharing on social media platforms compared to males. Out of the 500

respondents 69.5% of them were females and 30.5% of them were males.

As for the age, the researchers included it as they wished to link their results to what they

found in the literature. Since Xie et al, 2012, argued that some researchers got similar results for

awareness between different age groups, and for other researchers, age did not play a role in the

results variation. Based on the age groups, and out of the 500 responses, the highest rate was

47% for the ages of 16 to 25, followed by 36% for the ages of 26 to 39, and the least rate was

17% for the ages 40 and above. These results matched the researchers’ expectations that they had

before distributing the questionnaires on WhatsApp. The researchers thought the highest

response rate will be from the youngest age groups, because from the researchers’ observations

of the Saudi society, most of the younger generation spend long times on social media. As well

as the fact that the researchers fall in this age group, which means that the sampling technique

may have influenced this response rate from this age group. The lowest rate was from 40 and

above because; either older people do not spend as much time on social media or the snowballing

technique of sending survey to network of friends did not reach enough elder users.

For the first main objective, five questions were asked to help satisfy such an objective.

The first question was about participants’ most used functions on WhatsApp and what type of

information they share. As the researchers believed that each function is associated with a certain

level of information disclosure. (Fogel and Nehma, 2009 as cited in French & Read, 2013)

suggested that privacy perception is linked to the willingness of users to share information.

Based on gender analysis, the results for most used functions, ranging between texting, sending

pictures, voice recordings, videos, and location services, showed that texting was the highest for

both genders, 36.1% for females, and 29.1% for males. Followed by sending pictures which both

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had very close results of 24% for females and 24.3% for males. The researchers concluded from

such responses, that users tend to be more aware of what they share if they had to type it and it is

not as easy as voice recordings which was 13.5% for females and 14.5% for males. While both

genders used sharing pictures function, the following question was to identify if they are open

with sharing personal photos and it showed a variation between the two genders. Location

services results were 12.1% for females and 14.7% for males. This low rate could indicate that

not many users are aware of this function or that they do not wish for the application to know

their location and this is linked to their awareness of privacy.

As for what type of information being shared on WhatsApp, personal information

category; such as personal photo, voice recording, video, location, and private information such

as: bank account details. Females scored the highest rate which was 20.6% for work related

information followed by 20% for personal photo, same rate of 16.8% for location and voice

recording, and lowest rate between all of 12.4 % for private information. While the male results

of the personal information category, the highest rate was 19.1% for personal photo followed by

18.5% for work related information, and personal video and location came close of 16.4% and

16.8%, followed by 14.7% for private information and lowest rate between all was for personal

voice recording of 14.5%. Comparing between the genders, the highest rate of information type

between males and females, males were more prone to share their personal photos than females,

and researchers linked this results to Saudi Arabia culture values where females tend to be more

conservative, thus having higher avoid sharing due to their values. However, females had the

highest rate of sharing work related information and it was relatively lower for males, which the

researchers concluded that males are more aware of choosing what to share about their work

details using social media..

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Based on age group analysis, the number one most used function between all age groups

was texting ranging from 32 to 34%, which was expected as it is the main function WhatsApp is

known for. Second most used functions with similar results between all age groups as well.

Ranging between 23 to 25% was sending pictures. The two functions that the researchers

considered them having high level of information disclosure. Third most used function was voice

recordings for [16-25] and videos for [26-39] and [40+].

As for the last function, location services (GPS), which is in many countries, viewed as a

privacy threat as the application can track the users’ locations if the service is enabled. For Saudi

users, from all age groups, the rate of the users who use location services ranged from 9 to 14 %.

It shows that they do not consider it as a main function for WhatsApp. The researchers attributed

this result to the fact that the users use maps application instead, or that they are cautious when it

comes to access to their location. In further results on the bases of functions, 18.50% of the ages

between 26 and 39 said they share their location, 16.2% of the ages of 40 and above, and 15.1%

of the ages between 16 and 25. Below figure 1 and figure 2, show the results of what type of

information users disclose on WhatsApp based on gender and age analysis.

Males Female

16.90% 16.80%15.50% 12.30%20.80% 20.90%17.70% 13.50%15.70% 17.70%13.40% 18.80%

What type of information do you share on WhatsApp?

GPS Private informationpersonal photos Personal videosPersonal Voice recordings Work Related information

Figure 1

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[16-25] [26-39] 40 and above

15.10% 18.50% 16.20%11.90% 16.60% 11.60%20.30%

20.80% 22.70%14%

16% 18%19.10%

16.20% 12.10%20% 12% 20%

What type of information do you share on WhatsApp?

GPS Private info

personal photos Personal videos

Personal Voice recordings Work Related info

Figure 2

Next question under the first objective was, do you trust WhatsApp with keeping your

information private? In answering that question, based on gender analysis, the results did not

vary a lot from male to female. Majority said No, they do not trust WhatsApp, 61.9% for female,

and 66.9% for males. The others who said yes were 38.1% for females and 33.1% for males.

Based on age groups analysis, the results did not vary a lot as well. Majority said No, they do not

trust WhatsApp, 61% for [16-25], 67% for [26-39], and 64% for 40 and above. The others who

said No were 39% for [16-25], 34% for [26-39], and 36% for 40 and above. Since more than half

said they do not trust WhatsApp in keeping their information private, this indicates a high level

of WhatsApp privacy issues awareness. (Fogel and Nehmad 2009, Hsuet al. 2011, Tsai and

Cheng 2012 as cited in French & Read, 2013) argued that many researchers confirmed that in

web based virtual communities; users view trust as a key factor for sharing data and information

disclosure. Here users say they don’t trust the site, however, they have high level of information

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disclosure from previous question’s results. As the results showed, gender and age group

differences did not affect the results of this question.

Next question under the first objective was, who do you think is responsible of protecting

your information privacy on WhatsApp? Based on gender analysis, the results did not vary much

from male to female. Who answered “Myself, because I choose what I share.” were 66.7% of

males and 63.1% of females. While who answered “WhatsApp, because I am using their

services” were 31% of males and 35.1% of females. This results could be interpreted in relation

with Saudi cultural values, as the individuals do not like sharing sensitive information with

“strangers”, so if they are online, they care not to share and their values recommend that they are

responsible about that. However, this result are negative in the sense that WhatsApp has many

issues with its responsibility of protecting users’ data, for example, not using proper encryption

for messages (Greenberg, 2014). Moreover, low rate [31% to 35.1%] said it’s the application’s

responsibly, which the researchers expected more users to say so. This question had “other”

option to allow users’ other input. After analyzing all what they wrote, many said in “other” that

the responsibility is shared between both, the user and the application representing 3.4 %. Other

inputs gave useful insights and represented high level of awareness, some user even added that

“It should be a joint effort between users, service provider and governments.”; “The service

provider should also streamline the privacy protection aspect of his service since many users are

not well-versed in such practices.” However, it was very low rate of less than 1%.

Based on age groups analysis, the results did not vary between each age group and came

close. Who answered “Myself, because I choose what I share” were 62.1% for [16-25], 63.5%

for [26-39], and 66.2% for 40 and above. While who answered “WhatsApp, because I am using

their services” were 34.1% for [16-25], 36.5% for [26-39], and 33.8% for 40 and above. The

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only variation between gender and age group analysis was that only the ages from 16 to 25 chose

the “other” option, including the previous results of whom said “both” and from whom had

useful input. Also, another 0.40% of age 16 to 25 answered in “other” that they have no idea who

is responsible. Unlike (O' Bien & Torres, 2012) who found that the youngest said age groups

believed it is more their responsibility to protect their information on Facebook. While the oldest

believed it is the Facebook company obligation to protect users’ information.

Next question under the first objective was, do you think what you send on WhatsApp

might be used by another company (third party)? Researchers asked this question to find out if

users are cautious of their data being accessed by third parties because according to (O' Bien &

Torres, 2012) it was the main concern of the users in their study if the information is being

accessible by and sold to third parties. Based on gender analysis, 52.3% of males and 40% of

female said “yes”. While who answered “no” were 41.3% males and 53.5% females. “Other”

option was selected by 6.4% males and 6.5% females. Based on who said “yes” males were

higher by 12.3% indicating a higher cautiousness than females in the sample, however, the

researchers are not generalizing. And females who said “No” were higher by 12.2% than males.

Who chose “other” option, rates were very close. Based on age groups analysis, who answered

“yes” were 46% for [16-25], 47% for [26-39], and 36% for 40 and above. While who answered

“no” were 47% for [16-25], 49% for [26-39], and 54% for 40 and above. Last, who answered

“other” were 7% for [16-25], 3% for [26-39], and 10% for 40 and above. The youngest age

group [16-25] results were very close between “yes” and “no” which is hard to identify whom

from them is more concerned, however, almost half said yes which indicate a decent level of

awareness for younger users. Their 7% “other” answers included majority of “I don’t know”

followed by “maybe”, which the researchers think that half of younger users who said “no” is

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because either, they do not believe so, or they do not know about third party access concepts.

Second age group [26-39] also had a similar pattern of results of the youngest age group [16-25].

Results were very close between “yes” and “no” which is hard to identify whom from them is

more concerned, however, who no were higher by only 2%. Their 3% “other” answers included

“maybe” followed by “I don’t know” and few said it is accessed by not a company, but by the

government, especially when needed, for security reasons. Last, the oldest age group [40+], had

a clearer distinguish between “yes” and “no” since majority answered “no”. The researchers

expected such results because many of WhatsApp users in Saudi Arabia from older age groups

could not be aware of third party access concepts, and how technology works in general. Of

course many variables affects that, like education for example, but the researchers did not

include that variable in this study.

For the second main objective, a total of three questions were asked to help satisfy that

objective. First question was, “do you read the privacy policy statements provided by Social

Media sites?” Based on gender analysis. Who answered “I never read it.” were 67.4% of males

and 65.9% of females. Who answered “I read it thoroughly” were 5.2% of males and 7.9% of

females. While who answered “I go through the first couple of pages” were 27.3% of males and

26.2% of females. Results were very close between both genders and it seems gender is not an

important variable in influencing behavior for this question. Based on age group analysis, who

answered “I never read it” were 68% for [16-25], 60% for [26-39], and 67% for 40 and above.

Who answered “I go through the first couple of pages” were 24% for [16-25], 31% for [26-39],

and 29% for 40 and above. While who answered “I read it thoroughly” were 8% for [16-25],

10% for [26-39], and 4% for 40 and above. The researchers expected the youngest age group to

have the highest rate of “I never read it” because the researchers observed that they do not like

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reading much and probably will not be interested, and researchers got the highest rate from them

[68%]. However, they were lowest on “I go through the first couple of pages” [24%] which was

the indicator to medium level of awareness, and “I read it thoroughly” was the indicator of high

level and they got 8%. The second highest result of “I never read it” were for oldest age group,

who also scored low in “I read it thoroughly [4%] as the researchers expected. Researchers used

a follow up question to get some indications of why they do not read them, as researchers

expected it to be the highest result. The options were limited to most common reasons the

researchers found upon the literature review, including that privacy policies’ statements are

either “boring”, “too long”, or “I am not interested”, the researchers included as well “other’

option to see if other reasons exists for the respondents. Age group variable did not play a role in

results variations in the reasons, as researchers got very similar rates for all reasons. Almost half

of all age groups [51% to 53%] said because it is very long. [24.4% to 28.2%] said it was boring.

(O' Bien & Torres, 2012). Their findings was that majority of users have not read the privacy

policy because of its length and boredom, showing similarity in results. [16.80% to 21.1%] said

they are not interested. Companies defend themselves when privacy issues arises by saying that

they state everything in their privacy policy statements, and users should not hold them reliable

for those issues because they agreed to those statements. By making them very long they almost

guarantee that majority of the public, probably will not read them. Which matched the results of

one of the reasons. The “other” option helped to bring new insights into users thinking, some of

the responses was reflecting high level of awareness. Some said “even if the app invade my

privacy, they force me to accept statement to continue using the app” which is interpreted as a

negative sign. Other said they do not read it but instead they look up professional bloggers

summaries online of online privacy statements of different applications. Some of These “other”

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answers reflected high awareness level, however, the rate of them was only ranged from 2% to

3.30%.

Next question under the second objective was a statement, “while on WhatsApp you’re:”

the options included “Worried about sharing your information”, “Not worried about sharing your

information”, and “other”. The majority of all age groups answered “Not worried about sharing

your information”, at a rate of 61.5% for [16-25], 58.2% for [26-39], and 57.1% for [40+]. While

who answered “Worried about sharing your information”, were 37.6% for [16-25], 41.2% for

[26-39], and 42.9 for [40+]. Only ages of [16-25] and [26-39] chose “other” representing less

than 2%. (O' Bien & Torres, 2012) Found that older Facebook users are more likely to be

cautious in what they say and do on Facebook in comparison to younger Facebook users. The

researches linked worrying to cautiousness, with the low rates of “Worried about sharing your

information”, still the same pattern showed that as age increased, the higher the “worrying” was.

Thus, the oldest age groups were more cautious.

Next question under the second objective was, “how often do you change your privacy

setting?” The answers were limited by three options, “rarely”, “regularly” and “never”. (Debatin

et al. 2009 as cited in French & Read, 2013) evaluated privacy perception from the user’s ability

to manage the security and privacy settings on SNSs. The researchers did this question based

only on age groups analysis as researchers thought gender was not important. The researchers

expected the oldest age group to have the highest rate of “never” as older users could be less

involved in all application functions compared to younger users. Who said “never” were 22.60%

for [16-25], 15.4% for [26-39], and 26.20% for [40+], being the highest rate and matching

researchers’ expectations. Who said “rarely” were 59.8% for [16-25], 67.6% for [26-39], and

65.5% for [40+]. The age group of [26-39] had the highest rate of “rarely” followed by the oldest

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age group. While who answered “Regularly” were 18% for [16-25], 17% for [26-39], and 8.3%

for [40+]. Highest rate 18% being for [16-25], they fully use most functions more, including

“advanced” ones, like privacy settings. (As cited in Xie, Watkins, Golbeck, and Huang, 2012)

youngest age groups fully use the multimedia functions compared to older age groups.

The final research question was “is there is a relationship between WhatsApp and

Facebook’s users’ privacy perceptions?” the first objective of this question was “to identify if

privacy issues are similar especially after the purchase of WhatsApp by Facebook.” This

objective was satisfied through the survey. The survey question that addressed such an objective

was the following: “Recently, a company purchased WhatsApp application. Are you concerned

that the company might access your information on WhatsApp?” The answers were limited by

three options, “Yes”, “No” and “Other”. The researchers analyzed this question based on age

groups as well as gender. As it was considered to be of relevance. What was expected is that the

eldest age group would have the highest rate of “No”. This is attributed to the reason that

previously this group showed little exposure to technology news compared to younger users.

Another expectation is that females would have a greater rate of concern regarding this issue.

According to gender analysis. Those who answered “Yes” were 56.4% of males and 56.3% of

females. As for the group that answered, “No” were 42.4% of males and 42.8% of females.

While who answered, “Other” were 1.2% of males and 0.9% of females. At first glance of the

results, we thought that gender was not of importance; however, there is a significant difference

in the rate of females who answered with yes and the ones who answered with no, with a

difference of 13.5%. This is still linked to the same fact that culture influences such a concern.

Those who said “Yes” were 60.7% for ages [16-25], 53.6% for [26-39], and 50% for [+40]. Who

said “No” were 38.5% for [16-25], 45.4% for [26-39], and 46.4% for [+40]. While who

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answered “other” were 0.9% for [16-25], 1.1% for [26-39], and 3.6% for [+40]. The age group of

[16-25] had the highest rate of “Yes” followed by the age group of [26-39]. These results were

the product of the fact that people are still concerned about their privacy as they have showed

earlier in previous survey questions. As for the portion that did not care much about the security

of their information, we attributed it to the result of limited exposure to the local news as

opposed to being educated about the world news. Like the news of purchasing WhatsApp by

Facebook, or advanced technology innovations and concepts. Keeping in mind the sample was

from the general public, and survey was distributed randomly without a control over the

education variable. The researchers linked this conclusion to the final research objective, which

was “To identify if users’ view of privacy vary between the two social sites”, and found out that

those who are in the age group of [26-39] are more concerned about the privacy issues of

WhatsApp especially after its purchase by Facebook. The fact that they were concerned about its

privacy issues gave an indication that the way they view different social sites differ. Moreover,

this could also be linked to what was mentioned in the research of (O' Bien & Torres, 2012)

where researchers mentioned that Facebook made all users data public by default and that many

people were concerned and decided to shut their social accounts in this website. However, even

though the users of WhatsApp are concerned about such an act, they are not being as cautious as

Facebook’s users. The researchers attribute such difference to the fact that the research

conducted by (O’Bien & Torres, 2012) was aimed to be generalized and was conducted in

foreign country, and was not limited to the Kingdom alone but Facebook’s users in general.

Overall, people who come from different backgrounds view the privacy of differently depending

on the social site.

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Conclusion and Recommendation

This research was conducted in Saudi Arabia to examine the awareness level of privacy

towards the WhatsApp users’ perception and to fill the gap of the subject. It was found through

the research that the sample were aware of the privacy except for the oldest age group [40+] they

were the least. For both gender mostly they do not trust WhatsApp as it is their responsibility to

protect themselves but still they were not aware of a third party access. The research proved the

privacy settings and statements are ignored and not changed because of its length and there were

not a satisfying reasons to do so. In addition, the sample were concerned that their information

can be accessed by Facebook referring to the fact Facebook bought WhatsApp. Some of the

results were expected to be, while some were not. The level of awareness that was proven was

not expected due to the lack of technological backgrounds as they showed high percentages that

it is their responsibility to protect what they share. Most users did not trust WhatsApp it was

expected that they know their information might be shared by or was giving to another company

for some purposes, the males were surer about it as they had a higher percentage but most of the

ones who wrote comments thought it is accessed by the government only. This is considered as

misunderstanding of privacy when it is accessed by a third party.

Recommendations for future research:

There has not been similar research on this topic in Saudi Arabia. The researchers suggest

by focusing on doing in depth research for each demographic variable alone. For example, each

age group and gender with adding other strategies (multi method) like observations. Increasing

the sample size is recommended, because it provides more reliable results. By still using the

survey strategy since it provides high level of feedback among different classes of people.

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Another very famous social platform in Saudi Arabia is twitter, so this research could be

modified to accommodate Twitter’s users and functionalities. Other researchers can conduct

identical research to this one but using a different country and compare the awareness of users in

comparison to Saudi Arabia.

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