Americans Hate Social Media but Can’t Give It Up, WSJ/NBC News Poll Finds

Americans have a paradoxical attachment to the social-media platforms that have transformed communication, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll finds, saying they regard services such as Facebook to be divisive and a threat to privacy but continue to use them daily. Across age groups and political ideologies, adults in the survey said they held a negative view of the effects of social media—even though 70% use such services at least once a day. The results also suggest that Congress has a green light from voters when it comes to overseeing the lightly regulated internet economy more closely, particularly when it comes to privacy legislation that is now being drafted. More than half of Americans—54%—said they aren’t satisfied with the amount of federal government regulation and oversight of social-media companies such as Facebook and Twitter, while 36% said they were satisfied with the current level of oversight. And more than 90% of respondents said companies that operate online should get permission before sharing or selling access to a consumer’s personal information, and that they should be required by law to delete it on request.