{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,13]],"date-time":"2026-04-13T17:07:52Z","timestamp":1776100072372,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":43,"publisher":"Oxford University Press (OUP)","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,1,30]],"date-time":"2020-01-30T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1580342400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":29,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"BMBF InStruct project","award":["16KIS0581"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["16KIS0581"]}]},{"name":"MKW-NRW Research Training Group SecHuman"},{"name":"DFG Open Access Publication Funds of the Ruhr-Universit\u00e4t Bochum"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2020,1,1]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n               <jats:p>Contemporary mobile messaging provides rich text and multimedia functionality leaving detailed trails of sensitive user information that can span long periods of time. Allowing users to manage the privacy implications both on the sender and the receiver side can help to increase confidence in the use of communication applications. In October 2017, one of the mobile messengers with the largest user base, WhatsApp, introduced a feature to delete past messages from communication, both from the sender\u2019s and the recipient\u2019s devices. In this article, we compare the deletion features of 17 popular messaging applications. Implementations of these features widely differ across the applications we examined. We further report on a study with 125 participants conducted in a between-subjects design. We explore users\u2019 preferences for deleting mobile messages, and we investigate how well they comprehend this functionality as implemented in popular messaging applications. We found statistically significant differences in users\u2019 understanding of message deletion between our three test conditions, comprising WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Skype. Eighty percent of participants in the WhatsApp condition could correctly assess the effects of deleting messages, compared to only 49% in the Skype condition. In addition, we provide insights into qualitative feedback received from our participants. Our findings indicate that message deletion is seen as a potentially useful feature that users may be able to use in different ways, including editing messages. Furthermore, users can more precisely estimate the capabilities of a deletion function when its effects are transparently explained in the application\u2019s user interface.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1093\/cybsec\/tyz016","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,1,30]],"date-time":"2020-01-30T16:16:53Z","timestamp":1580401013000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":7,"title":["Exploring user perceptions of deletion in mobile instant messaging applications"],"prefix":"10.1093","volume":"6","author":[{"given":"Theodor","family":"Schnitzler","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, Ruhr-Universit\u00e4t Bochum, Universit\u00e4tsstra\u00dfe 150, 44801 Bochum, Germany"}]},{"given":"Christine","family":"Utz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, Ruhr-Universit\u00e4t Bochum, Universit\u00e4tsstra\u00dfe 150, 44801 Bochum, Germany"}]},{"given":"Florian M","family":"Farke","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, Ruhr-Universit\u00e4t Bochum, Universit\u00e4tsstra\u00dfe 150, 44801 Bochum, Germany"}]},{"given":"Christina","family":"P\u00f6pper","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Cyber Security, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, PO Box 129188, United Arab Emirates"}]},{"given":"Markus","family":"D\u00fcrmuth","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, Ruhr-Universit\u00e4t Bochum, Universit\u00e4tsstra\u00dfe 150, 44801 Bochum, Germany"}]}],"member":"286","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,1,30]]},"reference":[{"key":"2020013011164853900_tyz016-B1","year":"2017"},{"key":"2020013011164853900_tyz016-B2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1515\/9781400838455","volume-title":"Delete: The Virtue of Forgetting in the Digital Age","author":"Mayer-Sch\u00f6nberger","year":"2011"},{"key":"2020013011164853900_tyz016-B3","author":"Hunt","year":"2017"},{"key":"2020013011164853900_tyz016-B4","author":"Johnston","year":"2016"},{"key":"2020013011164853900_tyz016-B5","article-title":"Regulation (EU) 2016\/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the Protection of Natural Persons with regard to the processing of personal data and the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95\/46\/EC (General Data Protection Regulation)","volume":"59","year":"2016","journal-title":"Official Journal of the European Union"},{"key":"2020013011164853900_tyz016-B6","year":"2014"},{"key":"2020013011164853900_tyz016-B7","author":"Sulleyman","year":"2017"},{"key":"2020013011164853900_tyz016-B8","year":"2017"},{"key":"2020013011164853900_tyz016-B9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"40","DOI":"10.1145\/322796.322806","article-title":"Users are not the enemy","volume":"42","author":"Adams","year":"1999","journal-title":"Communications of the ACM"},{"key":"2020013011164853900_tyz016-B10","volume-title":"USENIX Security Symposium, SSYM \u201999, p. 14","author":"Whitten","year":"1999"},{"key":"2020013011164853900_tyz016-B11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"25","DOI":"10.1145\/1592761.1592773","article-title":"Usable security: how to get it","volume":"52","author":"Lampson","year":"2009","journal-title":"Communications of the ACM"},{"key":"2020013011164853900_tyz016-B12","first-page":"727","volume-title":"ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI \u201917","author":"Nouwens","year":"2017"},{"key":"2020013011164853900_tyz016-B13","author":"Freia"},{"key":"2020013011164853900_tyz016-B14","year":"2018"},{"key":"2020013011164853900_tyz016-B15","first-page":"21","volume-title":"Learning from Authoritative Security Experiment Results, LASER \u201916","author":"Krol","year":"2016"},{"key":"2020013011164853900_tyz016-B16","author":"Murdock","year":"2018"},{"key":"2020013011164853900_tyz016-B17","first-page":"329","author":"Murillo","year":"2018"},{"key":"2020013011164853900_tyz016-B18","first-page":"897","volume-title":"ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work","author":"Almuhimedi","year":"2013"},{"key":"2020013011164853900_tyz016-B19","first-page":"3277","volume-title":"ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI \u201913","author":"Sleeper","year":"2013"},{"key":"2020013011164853900_tyz016-B20","first-page":"10:1","volume-title":"Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security, SOUPS \u201911","author":"Wang","year":"2011"},{"key":"2020013011164853900_tyz016-B21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"166","DOI":"10.1145\/3148330.3148338","volume-title":"ACM Conference on Supporting Groupwork, GROUP \u201918","author":"Guha","year":"2018"},{"key":"2020013011164853900_tyz016-B22","first-page":"1904","volume-title":"ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI \u201916","author":"Rost","year":"2016"},{"key":"2020013011164853900_tyz016-B23","first-page":"17","volume-title":"Workshop on Socio-Technical Aspects in Security and Trust, STAST \u201916","author":"Herzberg","year":"2016"},{"key":"2020013011164853900_tyz016-B24","author":"R\u00f6sler","year":"2018"},{"key":"2020013011164853900_tyz016-B25","first-page":"457","author":"Frosch","year":"2016"},{"key":"2020013011164853900_tyz016-B26","first-page":"232","author":"Unger","year":"2015"},{"key":"2020013011164853900_tyz016-B27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.5210\/fm.v11i9.1394","article-title":"A privacy paradox: social networking in the United States","volume":"11","author":"Barnes","year":"2006","journal-title":"First Monday"},{"key":"2020013011164853900_tyz016-B28","article-title":"The privacy paradox on social network sites revisited: the role of individual characteristics and group norms","volume":"3","author":"Utz","year":"2009","journal-title":"Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace"},{"key":"2020013011164853900_tyz016-B29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"122","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cose.2015.07.002","article-title":"Privacy attitudes and privacy behaviour: a review of current research on the privacy paradox phenomenon","volume":"64","author":"Kokolakis","year":"2017","journal-title":"Computers & Security"},{"key":"2020013011164853900_tyz016-B30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"254","DOI":"10.1287\/isre.1090.0260","article-title":"The effect of online privacy information on purchasing behavior: an experimental study","volume":"22","author":"Tsai","year":"2011","journal-title":"Information Systems Research"},{"key":"2020013011164853900_tyz016-B31","author":"Athey","year":"2017"},{"key":"2020013011164853900_tyz016-B32","author":"Pu","year":"2017"},{"key":"2020013011164853900_tyz016-B33","volume-title":"European Workshop on Usable Security, EuroUSEC \u201917","author":"Abu-Salma","year":"2017"},{"key":"2020013011164853900_tyz016-B34","first-page":"241","author":"Ramokapane","year":"2017"},{"key":"2020013011164853900_tyz016-B35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1145\/3054926","article-title":"Nudges for privacy and security: understanding and assisting users\u2019 choices online","volume":"50","author":"Acquisti","year":"2017","journal-title":"ACM Computing Surveys"},{"key":"2020013011164853900_tyz016-B36","first-page":"101","volume-title":"ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI \u201916","author":"Sleeper","year":"2016"},{"key":"2020013011164853900_tyz016-B37","first-page":"211","volume-title":"Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security, SOUPS \u201917","author":"Ruoti","year":"2017"},{"key":"2020013011164853900_tyz016-B38","first-page":"1","volume-title":"Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security, SOUPS \u201913","author":"Ayalon","year":"2013"},{"key":"2020013011164853900_tyz016-B39","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"166","DOI":"10.1016\/j.chb.2016.12.008","article-title":"Untagging on social media: who untags, what do they untag, and why?","volume":"69","author":"Birnholtz","year":"2017","journal-title":"Computers in Human Behavior"},{"key":"2020013011164853900_tyz016-B40","first-page":"1","volume-title":"New Security Paradigms Workshop, NSPW \u201913","author":"Bishop","year":"2013"},{"key":"2020013011164853900_tyz016-B41","year":"2018"},{"key":"2020013011164853900_tyz016-B42","author":"David","year":"2017"},{"key":"2020013011164853900_tyz016-B43","year":"2018"}],"container-title":["Journal of Cybersecurity"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"http:\/\/academic.oup.com\/cybersecurity\/article-pdf\/6\/1\/tyz016\/32293165\/tyz016.pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"syndication"},{"URL":"http:\/\/academic.oup.com\/cybersecurity\/article-pdf\/6\/1\/tyz016\/32293165\/tyz016.pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2020,1,30]],"date-time":"2020-01-30T16:17:03Z","timestamp":1580401023000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/academic.oup.com\/cybersecurity\/article\/doi\/10.1093\/cybsec\/tyz016\/5718217"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2020,1,1]]},"references-count":43,"journal-issue":{"issue":"1","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2020,1,1]]}},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1093\/cybsec\/tyz016","relation":{},"ISSN":["2057-2085","2057-2093"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2057-2085","type":"print"},{"value":"2057-2093","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published-other":{"date-parts":[[2020]]},"published":{"date-parts":[[2020,1,1]]},"article-number":"tyz016"}}