Confidence in social media is in free fall

Americans’ confidence in social media companies and their executives has plummeted.

The leaders of social media companies have lost the faith of the American people that they responsibly handle user privacy, according to a new report on digital privacy views from the Pew Research Center.

Some 77% of Americans have little or no trust that companies will publicly admit mistakes and take responsibility for data misuse, the report found.

Americans also have low expectations that regulators or lawmakers will crack down, with 71% saying they do not believe that social media companies will be held accountable by the government for misdeeds.

This deep-seated distrust is even more prevalent among Republicans and GOP leaners than Democrats and Democrat leaners, according to data Pew shared with USA TODAY.

Three-quarters of Republicans – versus 68% of Democrats – doubt companies will face repercussions for misusing or compromising personal data.

Even more of them – 79% versus 75% – say they don’t trust social media companies to not sell their personal information without their consent.

And the vast majority – 81% versus 76% – of Republicans don’t think companies publicly admit and take responsibility for their mistakes.

Republicans are even more concerned about how the government uses their data.

The share who say they are worried about government use of people’s data increased from 63% in 2019 to 77% today. Concern among Democrats has held steady at 65%, Pew said.

Pew research associate Colleen McClain cautioned that the partisan differences are “fairly small.”

“One striking pattern is how much distrust there is regardless of party,” she said.

The Pew findings come as political debate over online content is heating up. Conservative frustration with social media reached a boiling point when Former President Donald Trump was banned from the major platforms after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.