Majority of Republicans now favor regulating social media and breaking up Big Tech

A majority of Republicans now favor the government regulating social media giants and breaking up Big Tech, according to a poll released Thursday. 

In a poll conducted by YouGov and the Center for Growth and Opportunity, 56% of Republicans said they favored breaking up Big Tech companies into small firms. The organizations surveyed 1,000 people shortly after the 2020 presidential election. Approval is up slightly from 49% in July 2020.

Similarly, 55% of Republicans said they support the government regulating social media companies, versus 47% in July. 

A majority of Americans, regardless of political affiliation, say that tech giants such as Facebook, Google, and Amazon are too big and should be regulated, according to the poll. Almost half of them say the government should break up the companies.

Former President Donald Trump, who most social media outlets recently banned, has pushed for social media companies to be reined in to combat what he and Republicans have described as unfair censorship. Trump and many Republicans in Congress have also expressed support for repealing or amending Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, a provision that protects internet platforms from liability for publishing third-party content.

Over 60% also agree that both news organizations and social media companies should be held accountable for inaccurate information. 

Two-thirds of participants said social media companies should ban hate groups from using their websites.

There is a wide range of opinion regarding which tech companies are considered trustworthy. Just over 40% of those polled said they "completely distrust" Facebook on handling personal data. However, for Google, that number was 22%, for Amazon, it was 14%, and for Microsoft, it was 15%.