US public has little confidence in social media companies to determine offensive content

Americans have complicated views about the role social media companies should play in removing offensive content from their platforms. A sizable majority of U.S. adults (66%) say social media companies have a responsibility to remove offensive content from their platforms, but just 31% have a great deal or fair amount of confidence in these companies to determine what offensive content should be removed. A further twist: Nearly half (48%) say that in thinking about the kind of language people use, it is “hard to know what others might find offensive.” Opinions about the role social media companies should play in addressing offensive content are divided by partisanship, gender and age. Republican men – particularly younger men – stand out for their view that social media companies do not have a responsibility to remove offensive content from their platforms.

Overall, about half of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents (52%) say social media companies have a responsibility to remove offensive content from their platforms. A much larger share of Democrats and Democratic leaners (77%) say social media companies have this responsibility. Partisan differences are smaller when it comes to Americans’ confidence in social media companies’ abilities to determine what offensive content should be removed: Majorities in both parties (76% of Republicans and 63% of Democrats) have little or no confidence in social media companies in this regard.