Poll: Majority of Americans Back Antitrust Review of Big Tech

More than two-thirds of American voters back an antitrust review of America’s largest technology companies, according to a poll released Monday.

A Harvard CAPS/Harris poll released Monday found that 68 percent of American voters believe that the federal government should subject Silicon Valley to antitrust reviews.

Mark Penn, the co-director of the Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll, said Monday, “Big tech has to take seriously now that, even though consumers are very pleased with their services and products, that there is public backing of full-scale antitrust investigations. This is a significant development.”

The Harvard CAPS/Harris poll mirrors similar sentiments from a Pew Research survey, which found that Silicon Valley’s approval rating dropped about 21 percent in the last four years.

Republicans hold larger disfavor for tech companies compared to Democrats.

Forty-four percent of Republicans believe that technology companies have a positive impact. This represents a 28-point drop from 2015, when 72 percent of GOP voters believed technology companies had a positive impact on the country.

The survey arises as the Donald Trump Department of Justice (DOJ), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and the House Judiciary Committee have launched antitrust investigations into big tech.

Further, 67 percent of Americans said that they believe big tech has taken steps to reduce competition against their competitors; although, one-third of Americans believe that these companies have “largely acted in a fair way.”

The FTC has reportedly started investigating whether Facebook acquired Instagram, WhatsApp, and other smaller companies to stifle its competition. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg once claimed that the social media giant competes with at least eight apps, but Facebook owns or has a version of each of the apps that supposedly threatens them.

Voters remain split over whether the big tech companies such as Facebook, Google, and Twitter stifle competition.

Fifty-one percent of respondents said that Silicon Valley companies helped spur competition, compared to 49 percent who said these giant tech companies inhibit competition.

The surveyed polled 2,214 American voters from July 31 to August 1.