77 Percent Of Americans Believe Big Tech Has Too Much Power

These fears may be heightened by the spread of misinformation about COVID 19, but the underlying concern is that the socio-economic imbalance has become unsustainable. JL

Cat Zakrzewski reports in the Washington Post:

Americans think Facebook, Google, Amazon and Apple have too much power: 77% of respondents share this sentiment, across all demographic and political groups. 74% are very concerned about the spread of misinformation on the Internet (and) don’t have faith social media companies can fix the problem: They don't trust social media companies much (44%) or at all (40%) to make the right decisions about what content should or should not be allowed on online platforms.

Most Americans believe that Big Tech has too much power, according to new polling released this morning.

The fresh data from Gallup and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation underscores how public opinion is shifting about Silicon Valley. Growing concerns that misinformation and other issues on social media are tempering the optimism many Americans once had about the industry. 

Here some of the survey's key findings:

— Americans think Facebook, Google, Amazon and Apple have too much power: 77 percent of respondents share this sentiment, across all demographic and political groups. But they’re split on what to do about it: 50 percent favor breaking the companies up, while 49 percent oppose government intervention.

— Their top concern is misinformation spreading online: 74 percent of Americans are very concerned about the spread of misinformation on the Internet. There’s a partisan gap: majorities of both Democrats (84 percent) and Republicans (65 percent) are very concerned about this issue, but Democrats are more concerned about the issue.

— Americans don’t have faith social media companies can fix the problem: They don't trust social media companies much (44 percent) or at all (40 percent) to make the right decisions about what content should or should not be allowed on online platforms.

— But Americans don't think government is up to the task either: 59 percent of Americans believe elected officials and political candidates are paying “too little” attention to issues dealing with technology and technology companies. They would still prefer the companies (55 percent) to make those decisions about what content should be allowed online rather than the government (44 percent).

The polling helps explain why proposals to regulate Big Tech have become a popular talking point among politicians on both sides of the aisle. But it also illustrates why it's been so difficult for lawmakers to actually pass meaningful privacy, antitrust or election transparency legislation. There's broad consensus there's a problem, but little agreement about how to solve it. 

“The techlash is real,” said Sam Gill, senior vice president and chief program officer at Knight Foundation. “People are concerned about major tech companies and their effects on democracy. But they are deeply divided on what should be done.”

That creates a challenge for those seeking to campaign on tech issues as November approaches. Already misinformation on tech platforms and their responses to it is emerging as a key issue on the campaign trail. Former vice president Joe Biden, for instance, who just scored a key victory in Michigan and several other states, has been very critical about Facebook's handling of falsehoods on its service.

Earlier this week, the campaign criticized the company for not immediately flagging a deceptively edited video shared by White House social media director Dan Scavino. Twitter labeled the video as “manipulated media” hours before Facebook did. 

“Facebook's malefesance when it comes to trafficking in blatantly false information is a national crisis in this respect,” Biden campaign manager Greg Schultz said. “It is also an unconscionable act of putting profit above not just our country, but every country.”

But expect Republicans to continue to seize on these issues as well. While less concerned about misinformation, the polling found Republicans tend to be more critical of technology companies than Democrats and independents. That also played out this week as the Trump campaign wrote a letter to Twitter complaining about the application of the label to Scavino's post, which hadbeen retweeted by President Trump, and requesting a label be applied to a video shared by the Biden campaign. The company said Tuesday it intends to address these issues. The techlash also continues to be felt on Capitol Hill. Lawmakers on the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday blasted Google and Amazon at an antitrust hearing, per The Verge's Adi Robertson . Expect to hear more criticism of Big Tech today as senators on the same committee hold a hearing on the EARN IT Act, a bill with bipartisan sponsors that aims to curb child exploitation online.