People trust tech more than any other industry, but not nearly as much as they used to

Between fake news, identity theft, sprawling spam, rampaging trolls, and an overall increased level of toxicity, there’s a lot to mistrust when it comes to technology. But despite the growing list of negatives, the tech industry is still the most trusted sector among consumers today.

That’s according to Edelman’s annual Trust Barometer’s Trust in Technology special report, released this week, which spoke with 15,000 people in 15 global markets. While the survey registered strong overall trust in tech (76%, up four points from a separate report released in January), it also noted growing skepticism around social media and emerging tech. 

Edelman, in its larger survey of industries, breaks out social media separately from technology. But that hasn’t stopped more than 9 out of 10 people from folding it into their definition of “tech companies.” And once they do, overall trust in the sector falls, by as much as 10% in developed markets. Overall trust of social media companies is below 50%, though it has gone up slightly in the last 10 months.

“The challenge of trust in tech companies isn’t due to the failure of technology, but a failure to deliver on people’s expectations for societal impact and responsible leadership,” said Sanjay Nair, global technology chair of Edelman, in an accompanying essay. “Tech has shown its capacity for great change. It is up to tech leaders to prove that this change is for the better and ever more inclusive.”

While not directly related to social media, 65% of the people surveyed say they’re worried tech will make it impossible to know if the data, news story, or other form of content they’re seeing or hearing is real. That’s a 6-point increase since January and could be fueled by the increasing flood of disinformation as the midterm elections near.

There’s a solid belief that technology can solve societal challenges ranging from access to high-paying job to healthcare, but that’s counterbalanced by concerns over regulation (which go hand in hand with data privacy). Just over half of the people surveyed said they don’t trust tech platforms to self-regulate, but 56% said they don’t believe the government has sufficient understanding of emerging technologies to effectively oversee them.

People have more faith in their own governments than in foreign ones, however. In 14 out of 15 markets surveyed, respondents said they trusted domestically headquartered tech companies more than foreign-based ones, with more than half saying they didn’t trust those countries’ governments.

Overall trust in technology has taken a significant hit in the last decade. Globally, trust is down 5%; in the U.S., it’s fallen 24%, which is spread out fairly evenly demographically. Democrats, though, trust technology much more than Republicans, by a 65% to 49% margin.

There are widespread fears about data privacy, with 73% of people globally worried that their online behavior is being tracked without their consent or used against them. And 71% are concerned about cybersecurity, ranging from hackers to foreign-threat actors compromising our national security.

There’s a fair bit of mistrust among emerging tech subsectors, as well. Virtual reality, Web 3 ventures, and blockchain all received neutral scores hovering in the 50% range, while just 41% of the people surveyed trusted cryptocurrencies.       

Despite the troubling parts of the tech industry, there are some things to be enthusiastic about, per the Barometer’s respondents. Nearly 8 out of 10 agree tech makes work better, and 63% say they’re able to do more meaningful work because of tech in the workplace.

“Even with fears of AI making certain human jobs obsolete, employees across sectors agree that technology is having an overall positive impact on the workplace,” wrote Nair. “Most people believe technology enables more meaningful work and allows people with disabilities or care responsibilities to find jobs.”