Axios Poll: Public wants Big Tech regulated

A majority of Americans are now concerned that the government won't do enough to regulate how US technology companies operate, according to an Axios-SurveyMonkey poll. Across the board, concern about government inaction is up significantly — 15 percentage points — in the past three months. In a previous Axios-SurveyMonkey poll in November, just after Facebook, Google and Twitter testified before Congress, only about four in 10 Americans were concerned that the government wouldn't do enough to regulate the tech companies. Now that number has jumped to 55 percent. Notably, 45 percent of Republicans — who are usually skeptical about government regulation — share the concern that government won't do enough. Independents showed the biggest shift with an increase of 20 percentage points. More than eight in 10 — including big majorities across party lines — blame the technology companies for not doing more to safeguard their platforms against election interference. When asked whether social media does more to help promote democracy and free speech or does more to hurt democracy and free speech, most Americans (55 percent) now say social media does more to hurt democracy and free speech than it helps.