Poll: 72% of Americans Say They Distrust Facebook with Their Data

According to a recent poll, 72 percent of Americans don’t trust Facebook with their data.

The Washington Post reports that a recent Washington Post-Schar School poll found that the majority of Americans don’t trust Facebook and other social media platforms with their personal information and think that targeted advertisements are annoying and invasive. The survey, which was conducted in November among a random sample of 1,122 U.S. adults, found that while many Americans admit to using social media heavily, 64 percent say that the government should do more to limit and control big tech giants.

The majority of Americans say that they are skeptical that internet giants will handle their personal info and data in a responsible fashion. They also think that tech companies don’t provide users with enough control over how they are tracked and monitored when using online platforms.

72 percent of U.S. users state that they don’t trust Facebook, while only 63 percent distrust the Chinese-owned firm TikTok.

The survey further noted that Americans also distrust Facebook-owned WhatsApp and Google-owned YouTube while Google, Microsoft, and Apple received mixed results. Amazon appeared to have a slightly higher trust factor with 53 percent saying that they trusted the company at least “a good amount.” It should be noted that the Washington Post is owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

Only 10 percent of those surveyed said that Facebook has a positive impact on society while 56 percent say that it has a negative impact and 33 percent believe that its impact is neither positive nor negative.

Around 7 in 10 Americans stated that they believe their mobile devices are listening in on them in ways they didn’t agree to.

Read more at the Washington Post here.

Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or contact via secure email at the address lucasnolan@protonmail.com