Views of Big Tech Worsen; Public Wants More Regulation

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Americans' views of large technology companies have become significantly more negative over the past 18 months, and public support for increased government regulation of these businesses has risen.

A 45% plurality of U.S. adults have a very or somewhat negative view of these firms, defined in the survey as "technology companies, such as Amazon, Facebook and Google." Another 34% have a very or somewhat positive opinion of them, and 20% are neutral.

The one in three Americans with positive views of Big Tech reflects a decline from 46% in August 2019, while negative views have increased from 33% to 45%. And the proportion with a very negative view has more than doubled, from 10% to 22%.

Meanwhile, the percentage of Americans who think the government should increase its regulation of technology firms has risen from 48% to 57%. Calls for decreased regulation stayed roughly the same, but the proportion favoring the same amount of oversight has fallen from 40% to 28%.

These latest findings are from a Jan. 21-Feb. 2 Gallup poll that was conducted in the wake of insurrectionists' storming of the U.S. Capitol. In response to the riots and then-President Donald Trump's social media posts, Twitter permanently suspended his account, and Facebook indefinitely banned him from their platforms out of a concern that he would incite violence. Likewise, Google, Amazon and Apple removed the social media platform Parler, which is popular among conservatives, as a result of similar concerns.

The latest actions of these technology companies are not without precedent, though permanent bans are rare. Efforts by these firms to flag and eliminate misinformation were stepped up last year as the nation was dealing with the coronavirus pandemic and the U.S. presidential election. As a result, some of Trump's posts were fact-checked, flagged as false or misleading, or removed.

Polling conducted by Gallup and Knight Foundation in September 2020 found that broad majorities of Americans were concerned about a number of issues related directly to Big Tech, including the spread of misinformation on the internet, the size and power of large technology companies, online hate speech, foreign interference in U.S. elections and the privacy of personal data online. These issues were among the ones addressed during congressional hearings last July and October with the CEOs of Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, Google and Apple.

Republicans' and Independents' Shifting Views of Technology Companies

Republicans and, to a lesser degree, independents have much bleaker views of Big Tech now than they did in August 2019. Republicans' 37% negative rating in 2019 has grown to 65% and independents' has risen from 33% to 44%. As a result, independents and Republicans now hold net-negative views of Big Tech, in contrast to their slightly more positive than negative evaluations in 2019.

At the same time, Democrats' ratings are basically unchanged, with 49% positive, 21% neutral and 30% negative.

	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Net positive minus negative
	%	%	%	pct. pts.
2021 Jan 21-Feb 2
Republican	20	15	65	-45
Independent	33	23	44	-11
Democrat	49	21	30	+19
2019 Aug 1-14
Republican	43	19	37	+6
Independent	43	23	33	+10
Democrat	49	21	29	+20
GALLUP

Republicans' worsening views are likely owed, at least in part, to their perceptions that technology companies have an anti-conservative bias, given their actions toward Trump, Parler and other conservative-aligned individuals and groups.

Rare Bipartisan Call for Increased Government Regulation of Tech Companies

In a rare show of bipartisan agreement, majorities of Americans across party lines now think the government should increase its regulation of the big technology companies. Sixty percent of Democrats, 58% of independents and 53% of Republicans support more oversight.

The largest increase is among independents, whose calls for more regulation have risen 15 points since 2019. Republicans' support for regulation increased five points and Democrats' edged up four points.

	Increase	Decrease	Not change
	%	%	%
2021 Jan 21-Feb 2
Republican	53	20	23
Independent	58	11	28
Democrat	60	8	30
2019 Aug 1-14
Republican	48	12	39
Independent	43	12	43
Democrat	56	5	38
GALLUP

Not only is agreement among partisans out of the ordinary in the current political climate, but it is particularly notable for it to occur on the issue of government regulation. Gallup polling has long found Republicans opposed to big government and government regulation of business. Last September, 60% of Republicans, 35% of independents and 16% of Democrats said they thought there was too much government regulation of business and industry in general. In the case of technology companies, then, Republicans' desire for government action seems borne more out of addressing a perceived problem -- anti-conservative bias -- than from a philosophical view about government involvement in private companies' decisions.

Bottom Line

Views of Big Tech have grown more negative as the industry has drawn the ire of Republicans who view it as anti-conservative. Although Democrats view large technology companies positively on balance, they join Republicans in supporting increased government regulation of them as concerns have arisen about their size and power.

There is bipartisan agreement about some antitrust issues as they relate to the large technology companies, although partisans disagree about how to address them. Beyond this, they also disagree about what regulations need to address, with Republicans focusing on the alleged censoring of conservative voices, while Democrats see a need for addressing misinformation and hate speech online.

Both parties have indicated their desire to amend or repeal Section 230, the 1996 law that provides internet platforms protection from liability for what their users post. President Joe Biden, in particular, has been critical of the law and has said he would like to see it revoked, which may signal that a change will happen soon.

View complete question responses and trends (PDF download).

Learn more about how the Gallup Poll Social Series works.