Social media bosses, look away now. Painful headlines follow. We trust your platforms less than ever. We blame you for spreading extremist content, fake news and social menace. We don’t believe that you are doing enough to challenge illegal behaviour, bullying and child exploitation. And if you don’t or you won’t do anything about it, most of us want you regulated. The uncomfortable truth is that fewer than a quarter of Britons trust social media companies such as Facebook and Twitter when consuming sources of news and information. As such, trust in professional journalism is being eroded, with most people saying that they don’t know how to tell good journalism from rumour and falsehood.
It’s true that people generally still value social media when it comes to staying in touch, reaching loved ones and the ease with which they can share information. But most don’t see it as a force for societal good. The image that internet giants like to promote — of innocent bystanders on the net, exemplified by Google’s former motto “Don’t be Evil” — is failing to convince. The young are as unhappy as the old about this. One in ten young people told us that they had turned away from Facebook in the past year.
As trust in social media sinks, there is better news from traditional media. Once hollowed out by a decade of systemic shocks — disruption of the internet, Trump, the advent of fake news — a majority now say that they trust newspapers and broadcasters.
But they face challenges too. A third of us say that we are accessing news media less than we were. One in five is actively avoiding news altogether. When we asked why people were turning off from news consumption we were told that it was too depressing, one-sided, biased or controlled by hidden agendas.
Lack of trust is also having a negative effect on our consumption habits. Only 6 per cent of people consider themselves part of the informed public — those who consume business or political news several times a week. That figure has never previously dipped below 11 per cent. Given the issues we face globally, this should be a real concern.
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While traditional media can capitalise on growing support the same is not true for social media businesses. The problems that have nibbled at their heels for years have finally bitten them. If sitting at the same breakfast tables as social media executives this morning most of us would be yelling: “Extremism, cyberbullying, fake news — you just don’t get it. Do something.”
These companies enjoy market saturation, employ some of the brightest minds on the planet and have almost unlimited financial resources: deep pockets, huge power, big capabilities. Yet it’s just too big a task, they say. We would have to employ huge numbers. Technology moves too quickly. The problem for these companies is that there exists now a majority view, strongly held, that small steps and incremental change are no longer enough. An over-correction will be needed to change minds.
Do little and these companies, which in many ways are powers for good, may lose the right to help to inform and shape the debate. Blunt regulation will almost certainly result. The social media revolution delivered disruption at breakneck speed. What it needs now is leadership, and fast.
Ed Williams is chief executive of Edelman UK. The Edelman Trust Barometer can be found at www.edelman.co.uk