Public Trust in Covid-19 Tracking Technology: A Survey of Attitudes About Hong Kong’s LeaveHomeSafe Mobile App

Abstract The effectiveness of governments in addressing the Covid-19 pandemic has been analyzed through numerous perspectives, including state authority, capacity, and legitimacy. In Hong Kong, incumbent political tensions and lack of trust in government potentially weakened public support for official Covid-19 mitigation measures, which included a government-mandated mobile application to monitor personal movements and contacts. This episode invites academic inquiry about public trust in policies and associated technology. Based on a 2022 survey of more than 5,000 residents, this study finds that support for Hong Kong’s LeaveHomeSafe application is associated with, among other factors, a predisposition to cooperate with government in sharing personal data. Several control variables, including age, social media use, and vaccination status, are also associated with support for the application. Trust in policies that use technology and data, and agreement that the government was effective in managing the spread of Covid-19, do not significantly associate with public support for the application. This study deepens scholarly understandings about the distinction between public trust in government and public trust in government technology, a topic of recent interest in the context of smart cities and rapid advancements in artificial intelligence.