Voters Are Concerned About Big Tech Companies Attempting to Overturn Laws That Regulate the Tech Industry
By Tenneth Fairclough II
Last year, a tech industry group, NetChoice, sued the state of Arkansas to challenge a new law that required parents to permit their children to create social media accounts. This is one of the most recent attempts by Big Tech companies like Apple, Google, and Meta, and their lobbyist groups, to undermine laws that police the tech industry.
New polling from Data for Progress and Accountable Tech examined voters’ concerns about efforts by Big Tech companies to overturn state and federal legislation that regulates the industry. We also examined voters’ concerns about the methods by which these companies are trying to deregulate the industry.
Voters were first asked to select which of the three common attempts by Big Tech companies to deregulate the tech industry they find most concerning. A plurality of voters (36%) say they are most concerned about these companies hiding their attempts to overturn tech regulations by hiring industry lobbying groups to file lawsuits on their behalf. This is followed by 23% of voters saying they are most concerned with Big Tech companies expanding their rights of corporate free speech, while another 23% are concerned about companies protecting their profits by filing lawsuits to overturn tech regulations.
Voters across party lines share that they are most concerned about big Tech companies hiding their attempts to deregulate the tech industry through industry lobbying groups, with pluralities of Independents (41%), Republicans (34%), and Democrats (32%) selecting this issue as most concerning.
Following this, voters were asked how concerned they were with tech companies taking certain actions to deregulate their industry both at the state and federal levels. Voters report being “very” or “somewhat” concerned with Big Tech companies taking the following actions:
Suing the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to continue profiting off the data they collect from minors (77%)
Suing to overturn a state law prohibiting social media companies from collecting the data of minors who use their platforms (76%)
Suing to overturn a state law requiring these companies to set their products to the highest privacy setting by default for minors (75%)
Suing to overturn a state law requiring these companies to design their products to protect minors (74%)
Suing to overturn a state law that requires social media companies to verify a user’s age (73%)
Suing to overturn a state law requiring parental permission for minors to create social media accounts (73%)
These sentiments are consistent across party lines, with at least 71% of Democrats, Independents, and Republicans saying they are “very” or “somewhat” concerned about these actions.
Additionally, more than half of voters (55%) report they would be less likely to use the platforms and products of Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, if the company sued to overturn federal laws that protect consumer privacy and the safety of children. This is consistent across party lines, with 56% of Democrats, 58% of Independents, and 52% of Republicans reporting that they would be less likely to use the products of Meta if this were to occur.
If Meta were successful in suing the federal government in its bid to overturn laws that protect consumer privacy and the online safety of children, close to three-quarters of voters (70%) would support additional efforts by Congress to regulate the company. Voters across party lines share this support, with 73% of Democrats, 71% of Independents, and 67% of Republicans saying that they would support further legislation.
These findings demonstrate that voters overall and across party lines are highly concerned about the intent of Big Tech companies like Apple, Google, and Meta to overturn state and federal laws that regulate their platforms and products, and the methods they are pursuing to achieve those goals. Voters would be less likely to use the platforms and products of Meta if the company attempted to sue the federal government to overturn laws that protect their users’ privacy and safety. Voters also support additional efforts by Congress to regulate Meta if the company were successful in this bid.
Tenneth Fairclough II (@tenten_wins) is a polling analyst at Data for Progress.
Survey Methodology
From February 16 to 19, 2024, Data for Progress conducted a survey of 1,184 U.S. likely voters nationally using webpanel respondents. The sample was weighted to be representative of likely voters by age, gender, education, race, geography, and voting history. The survey was conducted in English. The margin of error is ±3 percentage points.