The growing scandal over personal information on Facebook being tapped for political purposes could result in the abandonment of the social media giant by users angered that their information wasn’t protected, a new poll suggests.
The survey found that among the three biggest issues that “ticks off American consumers about big companies” are improper political campaign help and the loss of personal information, two issues in the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal.
The results in the poll for the Public Affairs Council, while not mentioning any companies, are a broad warning to big firms and social media giants that the public is watching how their personal information is handled and they’ll protest by boycotting if they aren’t happy.
“The corporate crises Americans considered most serious were: (1) companies making illegal campaign contributions, (2) companies ignoring sexual harassment or discrimination claims in the workplace and (3) companies whose computer systems are hacked, resulting in the theft of the survey respondent’s personal data,” said the analysis.
And instead of Yelping companies or posting negative comments to reflect their anger, the poll suggests people will walk.
“It seems that many people would rather launch a one-person boycott of a company than post negative comments about it on social media,” said Public Affairs Council President Doug Pinkham.
The poll covered issues from sexual harassment, firings and political campaigning to hacking.
It found that the public is open to regulations that target companies accused of wrongdoing or immoral policies.
“Survey respondents were also asked if they would support tougher regulations on companies accused of serious moral or legal wrongdoing. Democratic women, in particular, said they would want government to take action, with 73 percent supporting stricter laws. Overall, 69 percent of Democrats would support tougher regulations, compared to only 58 percent of Republicans,” said the survey conducted by Morning Consult.
