“In the midst of an ongoing debate over the power of digital technology companies and the way they do business, sizable shares of Americans believe these companies privilege the views of certain groups over others. Some 43% of Americans think major technology firms support the views of liberals over conservatives, while 33% believe these companies support the views of men over women, a new Pew Research Center survey finds,” Aaron Smith writes for Pew Research Center. “In addition, 72% of the public thinks it likely that social media platforms actively censor political views that those companies find objectionable.”
“Fully 85% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents think it likely that social media sites intentionally censor political viewpoints, with 54% saying this is very likely,” Smith writes. “And a majority of Republicans (64%) think major technology companies as a whole support the views of liberals over conservatives.”
“When presented with several statements that might describe these firms, a 65% majority of Americans feel the statement ‘they often fail to anticipate how their products and services will impact society’ describes them well – while just 24% think these firms ‘do enough to protect the personal data of their users.’ Meanwhile, a minority of Americans think these companies can be trusted to do the right thing just about always (3%) or most of the time (25%), and roughly half the public (51%) thinks they should be regulated more than they are now,” Smith writes. “These are among the key findings of this Pew Research Center survey, conducted May 29-June 11 among 4,594 U.S. adults.”
“Social media sites and other online platforms have faced charges from conservative commentators and lawmakers that their platforms suppress or limit the reach of right-leaning viewpoints. And this survey finds that a substantial share of Americans – especially those with conservative political leanings – agree with these arguments,” Smith writes. “43% of Americans say the companies support the views of liberals over conservatives, while 11% say they support the views of conservatives over liberals.”
“Along with companies’ perceived support of certain political viewpoints, roughly seven-in-ten Americans (72%) think it likely that social media companies intentionally censor political viewpoints that those companies find objectionable – with 35% saying they find this very likely,” Smith writes. “The vast majority of Republicans and Republican leaners (85%) think it likely that social media companies engage in this behavior, with 54% indicating they find it very likely. A smaller share of Democrats – though still a majority, at 62% – also think it likely that social media companies engage in this behavior.”
“When asked a separate question about whether major technology companies support the views of men or women, a majority of Americans (58%) say these companies support the views of men and women equally. One-third (33%) say the companies support the views of men over women, while 8% feel they support the views of women over men,” Smith writes. “Although Republicans are more likely than Democrats to see an anti-conservative bias among major technology companies, this attitude does not translate into a broader desire by Republicans for increased regulation of these companies. Just over half (57%) of Democrats and Democratic leaners think major technology companies should be regulated more heavily than they are now, but that share falls to 44% among Republicans and Republican leaners. Indeed, 12% of Republicans say these companies should be regulated less than they are currently. That view is shared by 7% of Democrats.”
Tons more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: We want to meet any and all of these 24% who think social media companies “do enough to protect the personal data of their users” because – right now, at this very moment – we have several bridges of various sizes, spans, and colors available in Brooklyn for sale. But, hurry, ’cause they’re going fast!
SEE ALSO:
Apple pushes deeper into news – March 13, 2018
Apple to acquire Next Issue Media and its digital magazine-subscription service Texture – March 12, 2018
Silicon Valley donated 60 times more to Clinton than to Trump – November 7, 2016
99% of Silicon Valley’s political dollars are going to Hillary Clinton – October 25, 2016
Apple refuses to aid 2016 GOP presidential convention over Trump comments – June 18, 2016
Apple and Silicon Valley employees love Bernie Sanders. Donald Trump? Not so much – May 6, 2016
Apple among top employers of Bernie Sanders donors – April 20, 2016
Apple employees donate $15 to Obama for every $1 to Romney – July 27, 2012
Apple, other tech firm employees’ contributions favor Democrats over Republicans, Obama over Clinton – April 14, 2008
and water is wet and the sky is blue.
There is no compulsion to believe everything you see, hear or consume. It doesn’t do you or anybody else any good to be uncritical or undiscerning.
Yet 85% have given up thinking for themselves.
Sounds ‘bout right in my life experience. Sadly.
Certain types of people gravitate toward certain types of jobs. I work with lots of tech people, also many people in the entertainment industry, and the legal profession and I’m pretty much the only conservative I run into. I’m also in California.
I don’t think there is much that can be done about it. Nor do I think that there is anything that should be done about it. The Left Wing/Media/Tech complex is very powerful.
I think we’re all going to be dressed like the people in Apple’s 1984 video before conservatives figure out, “Ya know.. we should speak up about this.”
Until then we will be maligned, derided, insulted, ridiculed, mocked, called names, and accused of every heinous activity since the holocaust, by the folks with the biggest bullhorns, simply for having differing opinions.
The corporate media is not biased toward Democrats and has not been for many years. They are what I would describe as corporatist.
Corporatists drive hard core Republicans and Democrats crazy. They tend to favor Republican policy on economics and budget and Democratic policy on social issues. That is sure to infuriate any partisan in these times.
It’s corporate for sure and the economic and social issues you delineated don’t follow the pattern mentioned. They find anything Trump does as despicable and irrational. They cannot report in any other way, because at the core, they despise the person.
Maybe they find everything Trump does is irrational because he is irrational.
Conservatives do not run Trillion Dollar Deficits.
If Dem/Lib/Prog ideas are so wonderful, why the need to rig the system, dominate basically all of the U.S. media and college campuses, in order to promulgate the Dem/Lib/Prog ideology?
If Dem/Lib/Prog ideas are so sound, why the need to squelch conservative ideas in the vast majority of mainstream media and on college campuses?
If the Dem/Lib/Prog ideology is so great, why the need for such a hard sell? Shouldn’t the ideology sell itself with no effort required?
And, yet, despite the widespread anti-conservative / anti-Republican bias found throughout the U.S. media and in virtually every higher learning indoctrination center in America, the GOP rules U.S. statehouses, and owns the U.S. Presidency, both houses of Congress, and the U.S. Supreme Court (just getting started there, for the next 30-40 years). 🙂
Conservatism is able to thrive despite the socialist statist attempts to stamp it out pretty much everywhere, from Berkeley to CNN to the Red Hen. Why is that? Look to the soundness and the logic of the ideas for the answer.
The liberals have nothing but emotion, distortion, fabrication, dishonesty, immorality, hostility, denial, and tears, with many more tears to flow. Ain’t it grand?
Two words!
Donald Trump!
Rest my case!
It certainly is!
If Citizens United is so wonderful, why do you bitch when the other side uses it?
Companies are people aren’t they? Or is that only applicable to conservative companies?
Again we are lumping everyone together “Dem/Lib/Prog” and it is simply not true. What would you do without a bogeyman to blame for all that you fear?
As to your supposed championing of conservatism, real conservatives do not run or enable Trillion Dollar deficits like one Donald J Trump- the Dullard in the White House.
one that voted for Trump and cringes often when he speaks, the ultimate disappointment in him, though history says I shouldn’t be surprised, is his pursuit of rigorous spending and seeming carelessness of the debt.
Btw, he’s never claimed to be a conservative and few have ever called his such. He’s a nationalist with a small “n.” Small “n” b/c so many conflate nationalism with the german guy with the black square on his lip and I’ll call that an Illogical conflation that supports an irrational narrative.
Lol, those that think that social media puts conservatives above liberals? Lol, they have it made and yet they always want more, more, more. Just like Apple, always wanting more money, and doing little with the stuff they have.
>
It’s all a tempest in a teapot. The real grist is the aliens’ control over the fools running social media. I mean extraterrestrial aliens, who are super-smart and have been here since 1946, manipulating us by exploiting our many cognitive weaknesses. All our leaders and spokespeople are puppets, marionettes dancing to the twitching of alien tentacles. What for? Who knows? But the aliens probably enjoy laughing at our pathetic attempts to think, and savour our succulent flesh roasted over a pure hydrogen flame.
Where d’ya put Botty?
lol. It would be humorous if that turns out to be the truth and the Earth ends up being a MMORPG for aliens.
The statistics are telling.
“Fully 85% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents think it likely that social media sites intentionally censor political viewpoints, with 54% saying this is very likely,” Smith writes. “And a majority of Republicans (64%) think major technology companies as a whole support the views of liberals over conservatives.”
The GOP has intentionally promoted a persecution complex for decades. The GOP *needs* that attitude in order to bind together a disparate base driven by multiple single-issue concerns – religion, guns, tax cuts, etc. The fear and distrust promoted by Trump and the rest of the GOP not only reflects the twisted mental state of its leadership, it is also a necessary tool to rally the base to function as a unified caucus despite the significant policy divisions within the party, as a whole. It is a political movement based on emotion and stoked with FUD.
Hasn’t it been recently reported that both Google and Facebook gave preferential slots to voices more aligned with their views? Answer: yes. Didn’t Google just recently admit, because it was discovered, they defined Repubs as:
In an article in the election season, Slate reported: “Google is not fair; it favors some candidates, and it opposes others. And so far, it seems to prefer Democrats..” In a NYT, it’s stated; “Few companies have been as intimately tied to the Democratic Party in recent years as Google.” In the same article….”And last year, Google employees gave $1.3 million to Hillary Clinton’s campaign to succeed Mr. Obama, compared with $26,000 to the Trump campaign, according to federal filings.”
Zuckerberg, when getting fried by Congress admitted the need to shift their screening of postings in light of deeming one group as “unsafe to the community.” This determination was stamped on a black woman duo that are conservative humorists. Zuckerberg announced that SiValley is an “extremely left-leaning place.” Where do FB, GOOGLE, Twitter, Instagram reside? Doesn’t this list comprise THE list of social dominance?
You make it sound that republicans have a persecution complex, verging on paranoia. Please step down one step off the high step of the bias platform and recognize/admit that if the largest social media and ad platforms in the world, yes THE WORLD, have admitted bias malfeasance, repubs, claiming bias on a survey might not be w/o justification?
Where’s the emotion and FUD in that? Please stay on topic…Don isn’t a part of this conversation.