Publication 22 May 2018

Personal data protection: what do the French think?

How do the French view the protection of personal data, now that the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) comes into force this week? Find out the results of the survey carried out by Renaissance Numérique, in partnership with the Ifop institute.

This survey was carried out amongst a sample of 1,018 people representative of the French population aged 18 and over, between 10 and 12 April 2018.

The survey highlights that 81% of French people say they are mindful of how their personal data is processed, even though only 46% say they are aware of their rights in this regard (5% are fully aware of them). Furthermore, a minority of those surveyed (46%) have heard of the GDPR, and 9% understand exactly what it entails.

Among the new rights guaranteed by the Regulation, the French strongly support (64%) the right to digital erasure (or the “right to be forgotten”). In contrast, only 10 per cent of those surveyed prioritize the right to data portability.

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