Large tech companies have recently come under heavy public and congressional scrutiny. With trust in these companies at an all-time low, politicians, who typically top the polls for “least trusted” profession, and political insiders are using this perceived public concern to their advantage by manufacturing an antitrust and competition crisis.
Read Executive Director, Christopher Koopman’s break down of the data.
These charts display the results of a recent CGO/YouGov poll measuring how people viewed tech companies, their impact on their lives, and the prospects of breaking them up. Analyzing these figures; it appears that much of the current anti-tech sentiment is the product of beltway politics.
The results reveal there is a stark contrast in responses between those who closely follow political news and those who do not. The results also show the less you follow politics the less likely you are to trust politicians to regulate social media.
The recent Congressional antitrust hearings appear to be less of a reflection of how Americans view tech companies and more of a symptom of how America’s politics are shaping nearly every aspect of our lives. Understanding what is behind the “techlash” will give us a better perspective on how to evaluate these sentiments in the proper context.
