November 24th, 2022, Alejandro R. Chavez
All over the world, and specially after all the information breaches and abuse of trust issues affecting several tech companies in the past few years, the topic of data privacy is increasingly important for consumers at a global scale. However, some audiences pay much more attention to this issue than others. Such is the case for the population in Mexico.
According to YouGov Global Profiles, almost six in every 10 Mexican consumers say they worry about how much data is available of them to third parties, external agents and other people online; a statistically significant difference compared to the 52% average among the global audience.
Some attitudes of the Mexican consumers, however, don’t seem to align with their reported level of concern towards data privacy. For example, they engage more frequently than other worldwide audiences in practices that may open their personal information to strangers.
According to a recent YouGov survey conducted in September among consumers in 18 international markets, around half of the country’s population pass on their old cellphones, laptops and other tech products once they no longer need them to friends and/or family, the highest percentage registered in the report. Another 38% of Mexican consumers say that they are open to selling their old devices, a share significantly higher than the 28% of the global average.
These feelings, at first glance contradictory, may be explained away by the innate trust Mexican consumers have on tech companies. In a YouGov survey at the beginning of the year, this audience has a statistically significant higher level of trust in the industry than the global average (12% vs 9%).
In fact, 40% of the surveyed people in the country explicitly told YouGov in another study carried out at the start of June that they believe tech companies are using their personal information responsibly. Although this percentage isn´t the highest recorded among the 18 international markets examined, it is above the global average of 35%.
Even while discussing newer technologies that have created important concerns around privacy for years, specifically 5G, Mexican consumers remain comparatively unfazed. As YouGov Global Profiles data points out, only four out of 10 in the country say they have concerns regarding 5G and data privacy, when the worldwide average is almost half the population. Conversely, around a quarter of Mexican consumers explicitly say they have no concerns about the impact of 5G in data privacy, vs the average 18% of the worldwide audience.
However, there are also clear indications that Mexican consumers may be among the audiences that most harshly punish tech companies when they betray that high trust regarding data privacy. In the country, 25% of the population said that one of the issues they most considered for their latest tech product purchase was precisely privacy, security and data protection, slightly above the 20% average for the 18 international markets examined.
And from now on, the topic will become increasingly heavy in purchasing decisions for Mexicans. When shopping for their next tech device, almost 6 of every 10 of those surveyed in Mexico said that they will consider privacy, security and data protection issues (the third most important factor only after price and ease of use), the second most worried audience just behind Indonesia.
Similarly, Mexicans are among the audiences that more vigorously value their own privacy. According to Global Profiles, just 36% of consumers in the country agree that sacrificing privacy is an inevitable price to pay in exchange of more security, a statistically significant difference vs the 41% of the worldwide average. In that sense, although tech companies seem to have the upper hand in Mexico regarding trust and data privacy, they also seem the ones with the most to lose if they ever (on purpose or accidentally) don’t live up to the Mexican consumer´s standards.
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Methodology
YouGov Global Profiles is a globally consistent audience dataset with 1000+ questions across 43 markets. The data is based on continuously collected data from adults aged 16+ years in China and 18+ years in other markets. The sample sizes for YouGov Global Profiles will fluctuate over time, however the minimum sample size is always 1000. Data from each market uses a nationally representative sample apart from India and UAE, which use urban representative samples, and China, Egypt, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Morocco, Philippines, South Africa, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam, which use online representative samples. Learn more about Global Profiles.
YouGov RealTime Omnibus provides quick survey results from nationally representative or targeted audiences in multiple markets. The data is based on surveys of adults aged 18 and over in 18 markets with sample sizes varying between 1002 and 2008 for each market. Surveys were conducted online in January, June and September 2022. Data from each market uses a nationally representative sample apart from Mexico and India, which use urban representative samples, and Indonesia and Hong Kong, which use online representative samples. Learn more about YouGov RealTime Omnibus.