(OPINION) ETH – The American appetite for social media censorship is apparently increasing: 48 percent of survey respondents now want the government to restrict misinformation, compared with just 39 percent in 2018.
According to a report from reason, That’s according to recent findings from the Pew Research Center, which asked respondents what should be done about “false information online.” The percentage of people who thought the social media companies themselves should curb misinformation has barely changed over the last few years (59 percent today versus 56 percent three years ago), but support for government action jumped 9 points.
That figure—48 percent—is significant. It means, that just about half of all people want the government to violate the First Amendment, which protects the free speech rights of private actors, including tech companies. Free speech can be messy, but the authors of the Bill of Rights believed that the federal government should not have the right to decide what ideas the people are allowed to express.
After all, the government might accidentally criminalize true information rather than false information, or nefariously censor criticism of its own actions. According to ADWEEK, Technology companies are not off the hook, with 59% of respondents saying they should take steps to restrict misinformation online, even if it puts some restrictions on Americans’ ability to access and publish content, while 39% favored freedom of information taking precedence, even if it leads to some false claims spreading.
Pew said those numbers were little changed from its 2018 survey. The think tank found that partisan divisions have emerged on the issue since 2018, with 70% of Republicans and GOP-leaning independents believing freedom of information should be protected, while 65% of Democrats or Democrat-leaning independents expressed their preference for government action. As for tech companies, 76% of Democrats believe they should take steps to restrict false information online, while 61% of Republicans feel that freedoms should be protected. The gap was smaller in 2018.
