Two-thirds of Maltese social media users have tried to change their privacy settings to limit what strangers can see on their profiles, according to a new EU study.

Published last week, the 2015 Data Protection survey, carried out by the European Data Protection Office, found that the Maltese were the third most likely to have heightened their social media security to stop social media snoops.

Online privacy settings were catapulted into the EU’s online security debate after Brussels approved its latest data protection regulations two weeks ago.

The introduction of the new regulations prompted a three-way discussion between the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission, on a number of issues, among them the requirements and basic standards for social media security.

While Maltese were seemingly worried with the safety of their social media profiles, with 30 per cent claiming to be “fairly concerned” that strangers could have been looking at their profile information, they did not have the same concerns about other online applications.

Some 84 per cent said they either never or only partially read privacy statements before using or downloading an online application. While this may appear high, it is actually fairly normal and falls well within the EU average.

The study even highlights the lack of awareness on this matter as an area for policy reform, especially as these statements often contain details on whether or not the application will use or distribute any of the user’s personal data.

Asked why they did not read the privacy statements, more than three-quarters of Maltese said they simply found them too long to bother with.

The study also highlights how a growing number of Europeans feel helpless when trying to stop their personal data from being posted online without their consent.

A quarter of Maltese felt they had no control whatsoever as to what was uploaded about them onto the web. Similarly, the same amount said they had total control over this. Despite this, three quarters said they found not having total control of this as a main concern.