Seven in ten Cyprus internet users now manage personal data access

Cyprus continued to lag the European Union average in online data protection habits in 2025, according to a report released on Wednesday by Eurostat.

Specifically, 69.8 per cent of internet users in Cyprus took steps to manage access to their personal data during this time, compared with 76.9 per cent across the EU.

In the EU as a whole, a clear majority of users took active measures to protect their data, with 58.8 per cent opting out of the use of personal information for advertising purposes and 56.2 per cent limiting or denying access to their geographical location.

Both practices became more widespread over the past two years, rising by 4.5 and 5.4 percentage points respectively compared with 2023.

At the same time, tighter controls over social media profiles and shared online storage gained ground. Some 46 per cent of EU internet users restricted access to such platforms, an increase of 5 percentage points over the same period.

More cautious behaviour was also evident in how users assessed websites before sharing personal data.

Around 39 per cent checked that a website was secure, up by 4.2 percentage points, while 37.6 per cent said they read privacy policy statements in advance, marking a more modest rise of 1.7 percentage points.

Across the bloc, however, the highest levels of data protection awareness were recorded in Finland, where 92.6 per cent of users took protective measures, followed by the Netherlands at 91.2 per cent and Czechia at 90.3 per cent.

By contrast, the lowest rates were observed in Romania at 56 per cent, Slovenia at 57.4 per cent and Bulgaria at 62 per cent.