Is Big Tech making society worse?

According to an exclusive poll by Forum Research for the Toronto Star, the tech-lash is real.

More than half of Canadian voters think Big Technology, represented by companies such as Facebook and Google, is making society worse, not better.

According to the poll, 56 per cent of Canadians say the big platforms are making society worse, while one-fifth (22 per cent) of those polled say they’re making it much worse. A third of Canadians (33 per cent) say the platforms are making society better.

“That is just shocking, the amount of negative attitude that Canadians are feeling toward these tech companies,” Lorne Bozinoff, president of Forum Research, said in an interview. “Let’s face it. The experience with these companies has been horrific from a public and users’ point of view. And there seems to be no remorse or concern or real corrective action taken by them.”

Bozinoff said what’s unusual is that voters of all political parties share the negative attitude.

“It’s the one thing Canadians seem to agree on, no matter the political philosophy,” he said. “Attitudes can change pretty quickly. We saw this with climate change, and now we see it with technology, where people seem to be more concerned.”

While Forum’s own polling shows that the environment is top of mind for Canadian voters, the negative attitude toward Big Tech is actually a more unifying issue across all parties, said Bozinoff.

“Everyone agrees that the environment is an issue, although Tory voters are less concerned than the other three progressive parties. But in the case of technology, we hardly ever see a poll where everyone across the spectrum agrees.”

According to Forum, 83 per cent of Canadians agree that large technology companies have an ethical duty to ensure their products are not causing harm.

Some 81 per cent say that they should be responsible for ensuring that the information distributed on their sites is accurate and not fake news.

“There is real concern out there by Canadians, because the companies don’t seem to adhere to the traditional corporate responsibility model that they should be contributing to the good of society,” said Bozinoff.

“The old rule was that if you were good for society, then it would avoid government intervention. But that doesn’t seem to be the case.”

According to a report released in September by the International News Media Association (INMA), more than 100 inquiries or legal cases against the tech giants are underway.

It has been a watershed year for antitrust and other investigations by global regulators even as public sentiment has continued to shift.

In Canada, the relationship with some of the tech platforms has deteriorated markedly. This year the country’s privacy czar filed suit against Facebook for allegedly violating laws over user consent and personal information. And Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg defied a subpoena by a parliamentary ethics committee in Ottawa, refusing to testify.

“There has been an unprecedented rise in the number of official inquiries into digital platforms’ global activities,” said Robert Whitehead, a former editor of the Sydney Morning Herald and author of the INMA report.

“There is also alignment emerging among regulators that the platforms have become too dominant in key areas.”

(Torstar president and CEO John Boynton is a board member of the association.)

The Forum poll shows 61 per cent of Canadians say they would approve of stronger laws for the Big Tech companies operating in Canada. This is in line with a poll released last month by the Ryerson Leadership Lab that showed 60 per cent of Canadians are in favour of more government regulation of social media platforms.

“Tech was supposed to be the new frontier. There was an idea with some of the public that this was a place where there wouldn’t be censorship or restrictions, but it has now backfired,” Bozinoff said.

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“The public is getting tired and don’t appreciate the manipulation. The old mainstream media used to take care with fact-checking and accuracy and there seems to be none of that online.”

An exclusive survey of the main political parties released this month by the Star shows that all are in agreement that there needs to be more oversight of Big Tech.

The issue is how to update Canada’s antiquated copyright and taxation laws for the digital era.

“Technology has been a great enabler for progress, but with everything there’s a balance,” Mary Ng, minister of small business and export promotion, said in a statement to the Star on Friday. “That’s … why we introduced our country’s first ever Digital Charter. The initiative protects Canadians’ privacy and personal data, while also enabling them to leverage their innovative talents and strengths to harness the power of the digital economy.”

The Liberals have so far been the most aggressive of the parties in tackling the issue, announcing that they would follow the example of the French government by introducing a three per cent tax on large digital companies operating in Canada.

The Conservatives have said they believe in a “level playing field,” and that public policy should “keep up with a rapidly changing marketplace.”

The New Democratic Party said it would ensure web giants “play by the same rules” as Canadian companies. The Green party came out strongly in support of the European Union and its leading policies on privacy, copyright and taxation.

In that sense, the politicians are in line with public sentiment.

Canadians also happen to be in substantial agreement that there shouldn’t be an uneven playing field between digital platforms and legacy media when it comes to taxation.

The Forum poll found 79 per cent of Canadians agreed that large technology companies based outside the country should be charged taxes on sales of advertising displayed in Canada. (Because they may not have a substantial physical presence or headquarters in the countries where they operate, many of the big platforms pay little to no tax in the countries where they do business.)

“The idea that certain companies aren’t taxed because they’re not really operating in Canada, or that they’re on the internet so they really aren’t operating anywhere, doesn’t fly with Canadians,” said Bozinoff.

“They are saying these companies are doing millions of dollars’ worth of business and commercial activity in our country. And they’re not paying their fair share. There is huge agreement. This doesn’t sit right with Canadians.”

The Forum Poll was conducted Sept. 30 to Oct. 1 in a phone survey of 1,853 randomly selected Canadians. Results are considered accurate plus or minus three percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

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