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The tech industry is facing some of its strongest regulatory scrutiny in years as the government goes after the biggest names in tech in a series of high-profile antitrust cases. The U.S government is suing Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, and Google, and reportedly considering going after Apple next year, while the sector has also faced a series of private antitrust lawsuits such as Epic’s cases against Apple and Google.
Earlier this year, Morning Consult reported that antitrust challenges against big tech companies are popular among Americans, regardless of party. That support hasn’t budged, with U.S. adults still more likely to support (45%) than oppose (23%) breaking big tech companies into smaller ones.
People see tech’s impact as positive, but feel they have too much economic and political power
A majority of people say they have a favorable opinion of major tech companies (55%) and a similar share trust them to do the right thing (53%), though these numbers have declined since the beginning of the year. And majorities of respondents, Democrats in particular, agreed that major tech companies are job creators (despite waves of layoffs), drive innovation and keep the United States competitive.
The desire to rein in the size of these big tech companies is not necessarily rooted in disdain or distrust in the tech sector, but stems from worries about its influence over politics and the economy. Over 3 in 5 U.S. adults agree that major tech companies have too much influence over politics, and an identical share say the same about their influence over the economy. When considering that the six most valuable U.S. companies by market cap are tech companies, and that five big tech companies spent nearly $69 million combined on government lobbying in 2022, these perceptions are not too surprising.
Consumers support antitrust cases and their underpinning issues
Among the high-profile cases big tech companies are facing this year, Google’s has been one of the most visible. In October, the Department of Justice's lawsuit alleging that Google was blocking out search competition through exclusive deals with companies to be the default search provider went to trial. At the time of writing, that trial, which 34% of respondents said they’d seen, read or heard at least something about, is still ongoing but expected to wrap up in the next couple of weeks. The same share of people said they are also aware of the FTC’s lawsuit against Amazon alleging that the company blocked out competition in the online retail market, which was announced in September and has not gone to trial yet.
Beyond awareness, these cases against big tech companies have a notable amount of public support, and, more importantly, so do the issues underpinning them.
People are twice as likely to support (44%) than they are to oppose (22%) the DOJ’s suit against Google, and a similar share said they support barring companies from making exclusive agreements with manufacturers to become the default service on their devices. People are also more likely to support than oppose Epic Games’ suit against Apple (though a plurality of respondents are undecided on the issue) over the fees they charge for transactions through their app store, and a slim majority support imposing a cap on fees that companies can charge to developers who publish apps on their app stores (51%).
Though antitrust cases are tried in courts of law, and the court of public opinion is not strictly consequential, the public attention these cases are bringing to the issues underpinning them may prompt regulators and lawmakers to impose further restrictions on what tech companies can and cannot do. Many of these potential laws have already been drafted, such as in the proposed American Innovation and Choice Online Act, which about a quarter of U.S. adults (23%) said they are aware of.
AI companies could be next
This year kicked off a regulatory reckoning for big tech companies that will likely persist into the next few years as legal battles draw on, but there’s an entirely new fight on the horizon. Generative AI has taken the tech industry by storm, and consumers are paying attention to these new applications, expressing their awareness, interest and concerns about the technology. Already, a majority of U.S. adults support additional regulation of AI companies (51%), more than the share who back it for major technology companies (37%) and social media companies (45%). This share has also grown substantially from April.
Despite being a relatively new sector under the broader tech industry umbrella, generative AI is already attracting a massive amount of regulatory scrutiny in the United States and abroad.
Earlier in the year, Morning Consult data showed bipartisan support for a wide array of specific regulations of the technology in the United States. Since then, the White House has issued two sets of voluntary guidelines for AI companies to follow in order to hopefully develop the technology responsibly, while the European Union passed a draft law that would regulate scenarios in which AI technologies can be used, and U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping recently discussed AI’s use in military and nuclear applications. With the 2024 presidential election looming, the potential for generative AI to be used to spread false narratives will likely be very apparent. Already, generative AI is being used in elections abroad in advertisements, heralding what may come to pass in the United States.
Beyond the strong likelihood that specific use cases of AI will become regulated, consolidation in the burgeoning industry may become a point of focus as well. Competitors in the space include giants such as Google, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft and Adobe. And 39% of U.S. adults already support breaking up AI companies into smaller ones (24% oppose).
Tech giants and soon-to-be AI giants are poised to face a challenging few years, tasked with igniting excitement about the future of tech and innovation while also battling regulatory hurdles and strong public concerns about their size and influence.
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