Americans display a strong shift toward more federal regulation of Big Tech

It probably should not be surprising when Americans hand Democrats total control of the federal government in Washington — both houses of Congress plus the White House. But it is significant.

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A new Gallup poll is reporting a large majority of Americans (57 percent) want more federal government regulation of the large technology companies.

That’s a nine point increase just since the last polling before the rancorous 2019-20 election campaigns. That’s also the same time period  that saw some of the Big Tech social media companies like Twitter and Facebook censor users, suspending some, canceling accounts and deleting vast numbers of followers.

The primary targets for such actions were especially conservative posters, presumably over allegations of posting misinformation and probably other reasons.

In recent months, for example, my Twitter account lost some 30,000 followers, sometimes several thousand in the course of one night. Since the account had been growing steadily for 13 years, it seems rather unlikely that so many readers would suddenly, simultaneously and spontaneously decide to express their disagreement during the very same night.

In just those 18 months, positive reviews of Big Tech plummeted from 46 percent down to 34 percent.

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Gallup reported:

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.

Additionally, the third of Americans who say they hold positive views of Big Tech has declined from 46% in August 2019, while those holding negative views have increased 12 points, up to 45 percent.

Respondents with a Very Negative view more than doubled up to 22 percent from 10 percent.

At the same time, those Americans who today support additional government regulation jumped from just under half (48 percent) up to a strong majority (57 percent).

Now, let’s see if this post survives in social media and/or if more of today’s 132,174 followers disappear.

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Ed Morrissey 10:00 PM | December 23, 2024
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