Americans widely distrust Meta (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp) and TikTok

Most Americans say they are skeptical that several Internet giants will responsibly handle their personal information and data about their online activity. And an overwhelming majority say they think tech companies don’t provide people with enough control over how their activities are tracked and used. The survey was conducted by Washington Post in November among a random sample of 1,122 adults nationwide.

According to the survey, 72 percent of Internet users trust Facebook “not much” or “not at all” to responsibly handle their personal information and data on their Internet activity. About 6 in 10 distrust TikTok and Instagram, while slight majorities distrust WhatsApp and YouTube.

Only 10 percent say Facebook has a positive impact on society, while 56 percent say it has a negative impact and 33 percent say its impact is neither positive nor negative. Even among those who use Facebook daily, more than three times as many say the social network has a negative rather than a positive impact.

Perhaps the most alarming pervasive suspicion is one that is still dismissed by many experts — and the companies themselves — as an urban legend. About 7 in 10 Americans think their phone or other devices are listening in on them in ways they did not agree to. Perhaps given the steady drumbeat of damaging true stories that come out about the companies — mishandling of personal data, unchecked dangers for children, contributing to the destructive spread of misinformation and polarization — secretly activating a microphone doesn’t seem like a big leap.

Despite the catchall term “Big Tech,” the biggest technology companies are not all viewed in the same negative light. The businesses that sell goods or services directly to people are viewed more favorably, like Apple and Amazon. There’s less mystery about how they’re making money off customers, and there’s not as much of a barrier between the organizations and the individuals who pay them.

It’s the social media companies, where the services are offered up ostensibly free, that unsettle Americans more. After years of privacy experts warning that “if it’s free, you’re the product,” perhaps the reality of what that really means has started to be fully absorbed. Tech companies have no-cost products such as social media apps, search engines, dating apps and email. In exchange, they collect data and feed the online marketing and advertising industry while profiting off it.

The biggest goal of collecting data is to serve up narrowly targeted ads. Two companies dominate. Google earned $147 billion in revenue from advertising in 2020, or 80 percent of its total, while Meta (Facebook) earned $84 billion in revenue from advertising, or 98 percent of its total.

About 8 in 10 Internet users say that tech companies do not provide enough control over how information about their activities are tracked and used, including majorities across age, race, education and partisan groups.

Targeted ads — the entire point of all that data collection — are widely disliked. More than 8 in 10 Internet users say they see targeted ads at least somewhat often. Among those who see them, 82 percent say they are annoying and 74 percent say they are invasive. And while companies sometimes defend targeted ads as helping people find products they want, 66 percent of Internet users who see them online say they are not helpful.

Overall, 64 percent of Americans say the government should do more to regulate how Internet companies handle privacy issues, a sharp increase from 38 percent who said the same in 2012 Pew Survey. Democratic support for the government doing more to regulate how Internet companies handle privacy grew from 45 percent in 2012 to 82 percent this year, while Republican support is up from 30 percent to 53 percent, and support from independents is up from 38 percent to 66 percent.

A 57 percent majority say they have changed privacy settings on websites, such as not allowing tracking, and half say they altered the privacy settings on their phone or apps. Most say they have deleted their Web history (56 percent), while nearly 4 in 10 say they changed their browser settings (39 percent) or used a private browsing setting such as “incognito mode” (37 percent). About 1 in 4 (26 percent) say they have used a virtual private network — software for creating a more private Internet connection — to protect their privacy.

Facebook has been plagued by privacy issues for years, from the Cambridge Analytica scandal to the recent revelations by whistleblower Francis Haugen. Yet more than 7 in 10 Internet users are on Facebook, with over half saying they use it daily.