A new poll shows that Americans believe Facebook to be the least trustworthy of all the major technology companies as far as protecting user data. According to a new national Fortune poll, only 22 percent of Americans “trust Facebook with their personal information,” compared to Amazon at 49 percent, Google at 41 percent, Microsoft at 40 percent and Apple at 39 percent.
“Facebook is in the bottom in terms of trust in housing your personal data,” said Harris Poll CEO John Gerzema. “Facebook’s crises continue rolling in the news cycle.”
In addition, 48 percent of respondents admitted to viewing Facebook more negatively than six months ago.
The news isn’t surprising, given the negative press the social media giant has experienced over the past year when up to 87 million Facebook users had their data shared with the controversial research firm Cambridge Analytica. At the same time, 126 million Americans — accounting for a third of the nation’s population — were exposed to content placed on Facebook by Russian sources during the 2016 elections. Then, in September, the company admitted that roughly 50 million of its users had their data exposed through an attack on its network.
As a result, Facebook is being investigated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Its CEO and Founder Mark Zuckerberg was called to testify on Capitol Hill.
The Fortune poll showed that Americans’ distrust extends to Zuckerberg. Only 59 percent of respondents said they were “at least somewhat confident” in Zuckerberg’s leadership in the ethical use of data and privacy information. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos came in first at 77 percent, with Apple CEO Tim Cook at 72 percent, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella at 71 percent and Google CEO Sundar Pichai at 68 percent, rounding out the list.
“That would be a C or D in grade school,” Gerzema said about Zuckerberg.
Users aren’t the only ones disheartened by Zuckerberg. Last month, some of the company’s major investors called for the CEO to step down.
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