83% of Americans want tougher regulations for data privacy
Farid Ben Amor, Knowledge and Community Lead, Future of Information and Entertainment Initiative, World Economic Forum
In the wake of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s testimony before Congress, a Harris X poll showed a huge majority in favour of greater legislative control on the tech giants.
Of more than 2,500 people surveyed, 83% thought regulation was needed — and 62% believed it was on the way within the next few years. Older respondents were most in favour of Wall Street-style controls on Silicon Valley, with 62% for, in comparison with 47% of Gen X, and 44% of millennials.
Of particular concern were newsfeed items, search-engine results and advertising targeted according to political views or affiliations: 40% demanded regulation, against 27% who would oppose government measures.
But there was less belief in the US government’s ability to go head-to-head with the tech giants: only 38% thought it was capable of effective measures. The Cambridge Analytica revelations have undoubtedly crystallized public concerns about the use of data: only 49% thought regulation was necessary as recently as November last year.
Originally published at www.weforum.org.
