Markers of Online Privacy Marginalization: Empirical Examination of Socioeconomic Disparities in Social Media Privacy Attitudes, Literacy, and Behavior

Abstract

This study explores how traditional socioeconomic markers of the digital divide interact with new markers of marginalization when it comes to online privacy protecting behaviors. To do this, we analyze data from a representative sample of social media users in the United States. Using hierarchical linear regression, we explore the relationships between established components of the digital divide, antecedents of privacy concerns, privacy-protecting behaviors, and privacy literacy. Our analysis highlights privacy literacy as a potentially understudied dimension of the digital divide and unpacks how traditional markers of marginalization explain distinct dimensions of privacy-protecting behaviors. Moreover, our findings suggest that the privacy literacy divide can amplify aspects of the second- and third-level digital divides, when translated into privacy-protecting behaviors.