A May 2023 survey of 5,101 US adults: 78% of Democrats and 68% of Republicans support more government regulation over what companies can do with people's data
The role of technology companies, AI and regulation - plus personal experiences with data breaches, passwords, cybersecurity and privacy policies
Pew Research Center
Context & Ripple Effects
Public concern about corporate data collection was already entrenched: a 2019 survey found many adults felt they could not avoid it and saw its risks as outweighing benefits a sense that corporate data collection is hard to escape. This survey narrows that broader anxiety into a cross-party preference for tighter limits on companies' data practices.
The finding sits alongside later evidence of distrust in platform influence, including a 2024 survey in which respondents said social-media companies hold too much political power concern over social platforms' political power. It matters because data-use rules may offer a more bipartisan policy entry point than wider arguments over technology regulation.
First-order effects
Lawmakers have survey evidence that stricter controls on companies' use of personal data draw majority support from both major parties, even though the level of support differs.
Companies that depend on collecting or using personal data face a clearer public-expectation risk around permission, disclosure and limits on use; the survey itself does not change any rule.
Second-order effects
Tech firms and trade groups cannot readily frame data-use restrictions as serving only one party's voters, which may complicate efforts to split policy coalitions along partisan lines.
Privacy and data-governance proposals can be evaluated separately from broader anti-Big-Tech measures, giving policymakers a narrower route to respond to distrust over corporate data collection.
Third-order effects
If this cross-party preference persists, the industry may move toward a more durable public-data permission boundary, in which legitimacy depends more on demonstrable consent and constrained use than on privacy-policy disclosure alone.
The survey points to a potential realignment around data governance, but it does not establish whether bipartisan public sentiment will translate into bipartisan legislation or consistent enforcement.
The trend: Public distrust of corporate data collection is creating a bipartisan foundation for governance focused on the terms under which companies may collect and use personal data.
In an era where every click, tap or keystroke leaves a digital trail, Americans remain uneasy and uncertain about their personal data and feel they have little control over how it's used.
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This wariness is even ticking up in some areas like government data collection, according to a new Pew Research Center survey of U.S. adults conducted May 15-21, 2023.
Read more in our new report exploring how people think about their privacy and personal data - and what, if anything, they do to manage their privacy online. https://www.pewresearch.org/ ...
Most Americans remain concerned about how companies & the gov't use their information But Republican concern about gov't data collection is on the rise, increasing from 63% in 2019 to 77% today- read @pewresearch's new report on #data #privacy https://www.pewresearch.org/ ... [im…
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🆕NEW🆕 Our brand new @pewinternet study shows that Americans remain uneasy abt their personal data & feel they have little control over how it's used. E.g. 71% are concerned abt how the government uses data it collects abt them, up from 64% in 2019. https://www.pewresearch.org/ ..…