A CNN poll published on Wednesday showed that Americans have a very negative view of Facebook’s role in society.
The poll, conducted by SRSS for the network between November 1-4, shows that 76% of Americans say Facebook is aggravating communities around the world. This sentiment is shared by Americans of all political persuasions, especially Republicans.
However, participants were roughly split in half as to whether the blame for the platform’s negative effects lies with the site’s administrators or users. 55% said users are the main culprits; 45% said otherwise.
Another significant finding of the survey was that nearly half of respondents indicated that they knew someone, whether a family member or close friend, who was carried away by conspiracy theory as a result of exposure to ideas on the platform. Facebook social networking site. The number was even higher among younger respondents, with 61% stating that someone close to them endorsed the conspiracy theories they found on Facebook.
The Independent has reached out to Facebook for comment on the survey results.
The company changed its name in recent days and now officially calls itself “Meta”, while leaving the name of the Facebook platform as it is. The new name comes as the social media giant faces an ongoing environment of criticism from Capitol lawmakers, the media and others for its role as a haven of disinformation on political issues ranging from the 2020 election to COVID in the United States. Similar issues affect Facebook communities around the world.
Facebook officials have repeatedly defended the company’s image and efforts to remove providers of false information on controversial political issues from the platform, denying whistleblower Francis Haugen’s allegations that the site’s algorithms encourage the dissemination of divisive, hateful and false content.
More than half of those surveyed by CNN, 54%, said Facebook’s algorithms had recommended content they deemed unacceptable. This number was again higher among younger users.
The company also faces other concerns about the use of its services, especially Instagram, by young adults and teens. Earlier this year, it canceled plans to launch “Instagram Kids,” while Haugen claimed the company withheld internal studies showing that use of its platform was linked to body image issues among young teens.
“Facebook knows that things like sharing-based ratings on Instagram can lead kids from very innocuous topics, like healthy recipes, to content that promotes anorexia in a short period of time,” the data scientist-turned-whistleblower said in Congress last month. very”.
Most Americans are wary of Facebook and other technology companies managing social media content themselves.
According to the poll, 71% of Republicans and 58% of Democrats don’t think big tech companies always work for users. Just over a third of those surveyed said they trust, at least in part, these companies to do so.
CNN poll was based on responses from 1,000 adults with a margin of error
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