Using digital services requires leaps of faith. Users must believe that the good or service will deliver as promised, even though in many cases they cannot actually see what they are purchasing. They often must pay up front, requiring them to trust providers to fulfil their commitment (e.g., to send a product in the mail). Furthermore, they have to trust that providers will be responsible stewards of the personal data they provide. It is perhaps intuitive, then, that low-trust people, who make up the majority of Latin Americans, would be reticent to use digital services. This is precisely what the data show.
Sixty-two percent of citizens surveyed in Latin American and Caribbean countries believe that barriers to access have to be high, in order to prevent fraud. Digital services naturally have lower barriers to access than equivalent in-person services, which low-trust people may perceive as making them more vulnerable to fraud. Mistrust fuels reluctance to use digital services in Latin America and the Caribbean, and part of the reason seems to lie in a disconnect between what people say, and what people do.
On one hand, Caribbeans and Latin Americans overwhelmingly state in surveys that they trust neither public institutions nor private companies to treat their personal data responsibly. On the other hand, they are avid users of social media services that are based on the aggressive usage of personal data, such as those of Facebook and Google. If privacy concerns were really so important, these companies’ business model – known as surveillance capitalism – simply wouldn’t work.
With this column, the Think To DO Institute publishes short pieces related to the facts and results of its research reports so that readers can learn more about the vulnerability of their country. For more information about the Think To DO Institute, visit our website at www.thinktodoinstitute.com; contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
