Major Internet Companies As News Editors

As part of its ongoing Trust, Media and Democracy initiative, the John S. and James L.Knight Foundation partnered with Gallup to ask a representative sample of US adults for their views on the news editorial functions played by major internet companies. From a broad perspective, Americans credit major internet companies for connecting people and helping them become better-informed. At the same time, they are concerned about their role in spreading misinformation and in potentially limiting exposure to different viewpoints. They are more negative (54%) than positive (45%) about the idea of major internet companies tailoring information to individual users based on their interests, their internet search activity and their web browsing history. Majorities of US adults say they are very concerned that major internet companies’ methods as a content arbitrator can give people a biased picture of the news, restrict the expression of certain viewpoints, and increase the influence of news that benefits the internet company and its preferred points of view. Likely as a result of these concerns, the public believes major internet companies should be transparent about their methods for delivering content — 88% say they should publicly disclose the methods they use. Further, Americans think major internet companies should be subject to the same regulations as newspapers and television news stations. However, they do not see the government as being mainly responsible for ensuring that major internet companies give Americans an accurate and unbiased summary of the news. Rather, they believe that obligation falls on the internet companies or their users.