Majority skeptical of Big Tech’s power, but prefer tech companies police themselves: Poll

Americans are skeptical of tech companies’ power but a majority prefers those companies to police the content on their own platforms instead of the government, according to a new Gallup and Knight Foundation poll released Wednesday.

The poll found 84% of Americans trust tech companies “not much” or “not at all,” but a 55% majority prefers that tech companies make their own policies without any government involvement.

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

Americans are evenly split on whether the government should intervene to break up Big Tech, with 50% favoring breaking tech companies up and 49% opposing breaking them up. The survey found Republicans tend to be more critical of the tech companies than Democrats, but that Democrats are more likely to favor governmental regulation in response.

Chief among concerns of those surveyed harboring negative views of the tech community are the spread of misinformation, the proliferation of hate speech, and data privacy concerns. The survey showed 60% of those surveyed think internet companies divide society, with 48% of respondents saying the companies allow powerful interests to control society and 47% of respondents believe internet companies contribute to misinforming people about the news.

John Sands, Knight Foundation director of learning and impact, said the pollsters were surprised that the negative attitudes toward tech were shared across bipartisan lines and that the public awareness of the underlying issues had more depth than the surveyors expected.

The poll released Wednesday by Gallup and the Knight Foundation surveyed 1,628 adults online from Dec. 3-15 and has a 3% margin of error. Mr. Sands said the delay between the December sampling and the March release of the results was attributable to a change in direction of the polling report.

The December sampling was originally expected to be combined with another poll that has yet to be placed in the field, Mr. Sands said, but the pollsters decided in January to shift gears.

Mr. Sands said he did not think the trajectory of the survey’s findings would move in a “significant” way if conducted again today but he said the poll would “probably” yield somewhat different results in those circumstances.