Most Americans Favor Restrictions on False Information, Violent Content Online

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Most Americans say the U.S. Government and technology companies should each take steps to restrict false information and extremely violent content online. However, there is more support for tech companies moderating these types of content than for the federal government doing so, according to a new Pew Research Center survey.

Support for both technology companies and the government taking steps to restrict false information online has grown in recent years. For example, the share of U.S. Adults who say the federal government should restrict false information has risen from 39% in 2018 to 55% in 2023.

This increase in support comes amid public debates about online content regulation and court cases that look at how tech companies moderate content on their platforms.

Additionally, tech companies have begun to remove some content restrictions that they had imposed in response to misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 election.

That said, the amount that people have heard about the debates surrounding the role government should play in regulating major technology companies has decreased in the past two years. In 2021, 51% of the U.S. Adults said they had heard at least a fair amount about this topic, compared with 39% today.

Key takeaways

65% of Americans support tech companies moderating false information online and 55% support the U.S. government taking these steps. These shares have increased since 2018.

Americans are even more supportive of tech companies (71%) and the U.S. government (60%) restricting extremely violent content online.

Democrats are more supportive than Republicans of tech companies and the U.S. Government restricting extremely violent content and false information online. The partisan gap in support for restricting false information has grown substantially since 2018.