Navigating Privacy Regulations: Administrative Burden of Digital Self-Services for Vulnerable Citizens

Balancing privacy regulations and usability is a challenge in the delivery of government welfare services through digital self-services. This study explores the experiences of vulnerable citizens with digital self-services in government welfare services, focusing on the administrative burdens of privacy regulation vulnerable citizens experience when trying to access and use the benefits for which they are eligible. Through interviews, focus groups and observations, three key costs - compliance, psychological, and learning – are examined. The findings shed light on how privacy regulation worsens the burden and usability of self-services and reproduce socioeconomic inequalities for vulnerable citizens by (1) limiting access to support, (2) putting them at risk of identity theft and fraud, and (3) demanding excessive documentation with limited opportunities to resubmit.