REPORT: Americans don’t trust the government to make social media content decisions

• 64% of Americans don’t trust the government to make fair decisions about what information is allowed to be posted on social media platforms.
• Today, FIRE presents a model bill to shine a light on the government’s arm-twisting of social media platforms.
• In a new report, FIRE outlines three principles to help social media platforms build trust and promote free expression. 

PHILADELPHIA, May 21, 2024 — In an election year, consensus between Democrats and Republicans can be rare. But recent polling from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression and Ipsos found that two-thirds of Americans don’t trust the government to regulate content fairly — including majorities of Democrats, Republicans, and independents.

To protect free speech online, FIRE released a report today featuring model legislation that would provide much-needed sunshine on government attempts to pressure social media companies into censoring users. 

“With transparency comes accountability,” said FIRE Legislative and Policy Director Carolyn Iodice. “Transparency will help ensure the government isn’t pressuring social media companies to censor Americans’ speech. We’re offering Congress a roadmap for legislation that would require the government to publicly report any content moderation requests for all Americans to see.”

But not only do Americans not trust the government to fairly moderate social media content, they don’t trust platforms themselves. 61% of Democrats, 62% of independents, and 73% of Republicans don’t trust social media companies to be fair about what can be posted on their platform.

To prevent government coercion of social media companies to censor content, and help the companies that want to protect free expression reestablish trust, FIRE’s report contains three principles for content moderation — one to protect social media from government interference, and two for social media companies hoping to promote free expression. FIRE’s report proposes: 

1. Legislation should require the federal government to publicly report any content moderation demands it makes of social media platforms. 
2. Platforms should make their content moderation policies transparent to users, who should be able to appeal moderation decisions affecting them. 
3. Platforms should make content moderation decisions in ways that are unbiased and consistent in applying the criteria the platform’s terms of service establish. 

The report also analyzes several current content moderation strategies. For example, some platforms are beginning to rely on AI for content moderation. This presents certain pitfalls: AI will inevitably make mistakes humans would easily spot, and it has no understanding of cross-cultural context. If someone were to post a sentiment like, “I’d kill for that job,” AI could flag it as a threat. On the other hand, features like X’s Community Notes provide social media users with an innovative way to flag content without banning it, instead answering speech with more speech.

Other findings include: 

• Republicans show more distrust (79%) than Democrats (52%) for the government to make fair decisions about what information is allowed to be posted on social media.
• Only 12% of Democrats and 8% of Republicans trust social media companies to make fair decisions about what information is allowed to be posted on their platform. 
• 39% of Americans believe that social media companies are biased against liberals or conservatives in their content moderation. Of those, 24% believe social media companies are biased against liberals while 73% say they’re biased against conservatives.
• 34% of Americans admit to, at least rarely, reporting posts for “offensive speech.” 

“The research couldn’t be clearer. Social media platforms have not earned their users’ trust,” said FIRE Director of Research Ryne Weiss. “Especially in these polarized times, honesty and transparency matter.” 

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to defending and sustaining the individual rights of all Americans to free speech and free thought — the most essential qualities of liberty. FIRE recognizes that colleges and universities play a vital role in preserving free thought within a free society. To this end, we place a special emphasis on defending the individual rights of students and faculty members on our nation’s campuses, including freedom of speech, freedom of association, due process, legal equality, religious liberty, and sanctity of conscience. 

This poll was conducted September 22-24, 2023, by Ipsos using the probability-based KnowledgePanel® – a division of Ipsos. This poll is based on a nationally representative probability sample of 1,028 adults ages 18-65 from the continental U.S., Alaska and Hawaii who were interviewed online in English. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3.3 percentage points at the 95% confidence level, for results based on the entire sample of adults. The margin of sampling error is higher and varies for results based on sub-samples.

CONTACT

Katie Kortepeter, Communications Campaign Manager, FIRE: 215-717-3473; media@thefire.org