3 in 5 Americans don’t trust Facebook to protect their data, poll says

A whopping 60 percent of people in a new poll say they don’t trust Facebook to protect their data.

The poll comes courtesy of NBC News and the Wall Street Journal, which also found that more than half of Americans view aspects of Facebook and social media in general in a negative light. 

That’s perfectly understandable, given Facebook’s reputation over the past couple of years. Privacy scandals have rocked Facebook on a regular basis, including the revelation that user passwords were stored in plain text just last week. 

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Facebook would become more privacy-focused in early March, but there are reasons to be skeptical of the company’s commitment to data rights. 

The majority of respondents also had qualms about the effects that social media has had on the American populace. Fifty-seven percent felt that social media works to divide Americans, as opposed to the 31 percent who said it brings people together. 

On top of that, a startling 82 percent felt social media is a waste of time. Only 15 percent said it was a productive way to spend time. Additionally, 55 percent said social media does more to spread lies than the truth, which might be concerning given that more people get their news from social media than print newspapers, according to a separate Pew Research study.

82 percent felt social media is a waste of time

Another interesting tidbit from the poll is that 54 percent said they were not satisfied with current government regulation of social networks. The U.S. doesn’t have sweeping privacy regulation on the same level of Europe’s GDPR legislation, but some major players in the tech industry have shown at least nominal support for it, including Apple CEO Tim Cook.

That said, only 47 percent of those polled were in favor of the government breaking up big tech companies, as opposed to 50 percent who didn’t like that idea. 

Despite the apparent dissatisfaction that Americans feel with social networks, it doesn’t look like people will stop using them anytime soon. Nearly 70 percent of American adults use Facebook alone, according to Pew.