Only 35% of 1,236 respondents to Kantar TNS’ first GDPR Awareness Index have heard of GDPR with poor understanding of what the regulation covers.  

When asked what they thought fell under the remit of GDPR, most agreed that it will take into account basic demographic information such as name, age and gender.  However, fewer than half of respondents think it will extend to passive monitoring such as cookie tracking, location data, online purchase history or social media habits. 

Just over half ( 51%) of respondents said they are disinclined to share their data, compared with 30% in favour. 

Phil Sutcliffe, head of offer and innovation at Kantar TNS UK, said: “The low consumer awareness of GDPR should not lull organisations into believing that issues of data security and transparency do not matter. We can expect these issues to loom larger in the public consciousness as the GDPR launch date approaches and people start to see and hear more about it.”