download pdf

The downsides of unregulated online freedom
In the year 2020, the downsides of unregulated online freedom have become more obvious than ever before: There have been various examples of online bullying, fake news – which in times of a global pandemic have caused unprecedented harm – and populist propaganda populist propaganda shaped, for instance, the American presidential election campaign. This has put pressure on social media platforms to abandon their laissez-faire approach, rejecting responsibility for online content by claiming they are “just the messenger”, instead of preventing hate speech and fake news on the Internet. While such demands are not new, in our survey they come from an unusual corner: Digital Natives.

Against unlimited freedom of speech on the Internet
Where should the boundaries of freedom of speech on the Internet be drawn? The Leaders of Tomorrow’s take a clear position against unlimited freedom of speech on the Internet and demand restrictions against hate speech and fake news (Figure 1). Women view the limiting of hate speech as particularly favorable. They agree more strongly than men with the statement that the freedom of the Internet should be restricted to prevent it, while there is no striking difference to men regarding the statement about fake news. One reason for the gender difference may be that hate speech is not only more prevalent against women, it also frequently takes the form of sexual harassment.

Social Media companies should be held responsible
A variety of measures against malevolent behavior on the Internet are currently discussed in the media, and all raise considerable controversy. The Leaders of Tomorrow see social media companies in particular as responsible for curtailing malevolent behavior (Figure 2). Almost 90% say that it is at least acceptable to have social media companies censor abusive and fake content, and more than 80% would even make them accountable for it. Compared to their clear position on the responsibility of social media companies, they are more reserved about a general ban of political advertising in social media: 63% consider such a ban – – as recently included in Twitter’s business policies – at least acceptable. Finally, despite possible detrimental consequences for minorities in many parts of the world, 60% of the Leaders of Tomorrow even consider abandoning online anonymity to increase individual accountability at least acceptable.

Personal data should be controlled by its owners
Young people are sometimes accused of being too generous or even careless with their personal data. Questions such as whether the collection of this data should be allowed or forbidden by default, or to what extent users should be remunerated for it, have been topics of heated discussions. Data breach scandals have further fueled the debates. It seems that these discussions have left their mark: Most Leaders of Tomorrow support the idea that data collection by platform providers should only be allowed with explicit consent. Furthermore, they take a skeptical view on different smart digital applications that companies may use (Figure 3). “Selective pricing” – offering customers different data-based prices for the same products to maximize profits – and “Choice Architecture”– steering consumers in the direction desired by the company without disclosing this strategy – were rated particularly poorly. Three quarters assessed these measures as rather unfair or even not tolerable. The majority flips, however, when personal data is used for different purposes: 54% find the use of individual location data to optimize advertisements reasonable or at least acceptable, and 58% would accept that biometric data is used for personalized product suggestions. But these are narrow majorities. Even for these measures the share of votes against is quite high.