According to a [new survey] by the Pew Research Center( https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/05/13/support-for-more-regulation-of-tech-companies-has-declined-in-u-s-especially-among-republicans/ ) , the proportion of Americans who favor more government regulation of large technology companies is declining But there are still a majority of American adults in favor of more regulation of these companies, and the vast majority believe that social media sites are likely to censor political views they consider unpopular, at least to some extent.
Overall, 44% of Americans believe that large technology companies should be more regulated than they are now, down from 56% in April 2021. On the contrary, the proportion of Americans who said they wanted the government to reduce regulation of large technology companies roughly doubled, from one tenth (9%) in previous years to one fifth today.
These changes are particularly evident among Republicans and Republican leaning independents, especially those who think they are conservative. In 2021, 59% of conservative Republicans said they were in favor of more regulation of large technology companies, but a new survey showed that the proportion had fallen to 35%. During the same period, the proportion of conservative Republicans who believed that the government should reduce the regulation of large technology companies increased significantly, from 11% to 36%.
Moderate or liberal Republicans follow a similar pattern - albeit on a smaller scale. Among these Republicans, those who support more regulation of large technology companies have decreased from 48% in 2021 to 33% now, while those who support less regulation have increased from 13% to 27%.
Liberal Democrats' support for strengthening the regulation of technology companies has also declined, from 70% last year to 58% now. The proportion of Liberal Democrats who believe that the current level of government regulation of major technology companies is similar has increased, from 23% in 2021 to 32% now.
These findings came when Elon Musk repeatedly considered buying twitter for $44 billion. Musk said that if he did buy the social media platform, he planned to take a more relaxed way to regulate the content on the platform, saying he wanted twitter to become a "beacon" of freedom of speech and avoid censorship. He also said that he planned to restore the banned account of former US President trump.
In the new survey, most Americans believe that social media companies are reviewing political views they think they oppose. Compared with previous years, about three-quarters of Americans (77%) now believe that social media sites are very or somewhat likely to deliberately censor political views they consider objectionable, including 41% who say it is very likely.
Most people in political parties and ideologies believe that these websites are subject to political censorship, but this view is particularly common among Republicans. About nine out of ten Republicans (92%), including those who tend to be Republican, said that social media sites deliberately censor political views they consider objectionable, of which 68% said it was very likely. Among conservative Republicans, this view is almost everywhere, with 95% saying that these websites may censor certain political views, and 76% saying it is likely to happen.
In contrast, far fewer Democrats and pro democratic independents believe that social media sites are likely (21%) or somewhat (45%) to censor views they consider unpopular.
Among Republicans, the perception of censorship of social media companies has been growing slowly but continuously in recent years. Since 2020, the proportion of Democrats who believe that social media companies are censored has increased, which is now the same as that in 2018 (66% today versus 62% then).
When asked what political views large technology companies tend to have, 44% of Americans said they tend to support liberal rather than conservative views - the same proportion as in previous years. In contrast, only 15% said these companies supported conservative rather than liberal views. Nevertheless, about four in ten (37%) said that large technology companies tend to support conservative and liberal views equally - a proportion that has declined slightly in the past few years.
Over the past four years, more and more Republicans have said that large technology companies prefer liberal views to conservative views, while the proportion of Republicans who say that large technology companies treat both sides equally has decreased slightly. The proportion of Democrats who think these companies favor conservative views rather than liberal views has slowly increased, but as in the past few years, few Republicans have said so.
If political ideology is taken into account, there are obvious differences in these views. For example, 81% of conservative Republicans believe that large technology companies favor liberal views, while the proportion of moderate or liberal Republicans is about 53%, and the proportion of conservative or moderate Democrats (27%) and Liberal Democrats (24%) is even lower.
About a quarter of Liberal Democrats (27%) said that large technology companies preferred conservative views to liberal views, up from 16% in 2018. Regardless of ideology, only about one in ten Republicans or less hold this view.