Waning Trust in Tech Companies During Election

U.S. voters are losing their trust in tech companies when it comes to preventing election misuse and fraud on popular worldwide platforms.

According to a new Pew Research Center survey, 74 percent of registered U.S. voters have no confidence in tech companies effectively preventing election misuse and fraud on platforms like Twitter, Facebook and Google. That’s up from 66 percent in 2018 before the midterm congressional elections.

In total, Republicans and Democrats were similar in their distrust for tech companies preventing misinformation during the election. Republicans were slightly more distrustful in 2018, with 72 percent not at all confident in tech companies compared to 62 percent of Democrats. For 2020, 76 percent and 74 percent of Republicans and Democrats, respectively, shared a sense of no confidence.

The survey also showed most respondents believe tech companies have a responsibility to prevent the misuse of their platforms to influence the upcoming election. Young voters were also a little more likely to have confidence in tech companies, with 31 percent of 18-29-year-olds as opposed to 20 percent of voters 65 or older having confidence in tech companies.