Extended Version: Security and Privacy Perceptions of Pakistani Facebook Matrimony Group Users

2025-09-10

AI Summary

In Pakistan, Facebook marriage groups have emerged as dominant matrimonial platforms following regulatory restrictions on dedicated dating apps; however, users routinely disclose sensitive personal information, exposing themselves to heightened risks of fraud, identity theft, and harassment. This study employs semi-structured interviews with 23 users and qualitative thematic analysis—grounded in local sociocultural context—to investigate privacy perceptions and risk-mitigation behaviors for the first time. Findings reveal that although users exhibit high privacy concern, structural deficiencies—including absent trust mechanisms and inadequate platform safeguards—compel behavioral compromises. The study proposes an innovative “culturally adaptive trust-building framework,” advocating integrated interventions: platform-level enhancements (e.g., anonymized chat interfaces, screenshot restrictions, robust identity verification) alongside strengthened cybersecurity legislation and clarified platform accountability. These findings offer a transferable privacy governance model for matrimonial digital ecosystems in Global South contexts characterized by regulatory gaps.

Technology Category

• Application Domains: Misinformation & Fake News
• Machine Learning: Privacy
• Natural Language Processing: Ethics — Bias, Fairness, Transparency & Privacy

Application Category

• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: User privacy protection in personalized systems
• Responsible Web: Mitigating online harms, including harassment, spam, and fake reviews
• Security and Privacy: Privacy-enhancing technologies

Abstract

In Pakistan, where dating apps are subject to censorship, Facebook matrimony groups -- also referred to as marriage groups -- serve as alternative virtual spaces for members to search for potential life partners. To participate in these groups, members often share sensitive personal information such as photos, addresses, and phone numbers, which exposes them to risks such as fraud, blackmail, and identity theft. To better protect users of Facebook matrimony groups, we need to understand aspects related to user safety, such as how users perceive risks, what influences their trust in sharing personal information, and how they navigate security and privacy concerns when seeking potential partners online. In this study, through 23 semi-structured interviews, we explore how Pakistani users of Facebook matrimony groups perceive and navigate risks of sharing personal information, and how cultural norms and expectations influence their behavior in these groups. We find elevated privacy concerns among participants, leading them to share limited personal information and creating mistrust among potential partners. Many also expressed concerns about the authenticity of profiles and major security risks, such as identity theft, harassment, and social judgment. Our work highlights the challenges of safely navigating Facebook matrimony groups in Pakistan and offers recommendations for such as implementing stronger identity verification by group admins, enforcing stricter cybersecurity laws, clear platform guidelines to ensure accountability, and technical feature enhancements -- including restricting screenshots, picture downloads, and implementing anonymous chats -- to protect user data and build trust.

Problem

• Examining privacy risks in Facebook matrimony groups
• Understanding cultural influences on information sharing behavior
• Addressing identity theft and fraud concerns in online matchmaking

Innovation

• Semi-structured interviews for risk perception
• Stronger identity verification by group admins
• Technical features like anonymous chats