The jGlobal Cohort 2024 study, conducted by 46 authors, involved over 11,000 participants from 26 countries.

We discovered strong preferences for individual regulation. Participants prefer to have direct control over what they see online, including social media feeds, online shopping suggestions, and news content.

The study shows a strong opposition to online environments designed for commercial purposes, with personal and societal objectives being the most valued.

Preferences for governmental or commercial regulation varied significantly based on country-specific factors such as trust in institutions and perceived risks associated with online platforms.

What This Means
Participants prefer to have a direct say in what they see and choose online. However, this raises an important question: Is it realistic to give users full control of what they see online?

About The Project
This large collaborative effort was led by Friederike Stock, and the study is freely available as a preprint at https://osf.io/preprints/osf/haqu9