When Did Big Tech Fall From Grace?

Technology used to be a north star, promising a better, brighter future. And for a while, the Silicon Valley giants made good on that promise. Google took infinite troves of information and made it accessible to anyone with an internet connection. Amazon made the consumption of books, then goods, as effortless as a few mouse clicks. Facebook and its social media predecessors fostered connections across the globe.

In return, consumers became eager adopters, engaging with the latest offerings without reservation. Indeed, since rolling out its Trust Barometer in 2000, U.S. public relations firm Edelman reported that “Technology has been the leading sector in trust” — often surpassing other broad sectors, like “business,” by sizable margins.

The tide turns

But in recent years, the tide of public opinion has changed. By 2021, Edelman was reporting, “Trust in technology has reached all-time lows,” and that trust has only continued to decline. As part of their own trust study in 2023, Brookings asked respondents about Facebook, Amazon, and Google and found “each experiencing a loss of between 13% and 18% of the mean confidence expressed by those surveyed.” Even more concerning, “there was not a single demographic group [Brookings] examined in which confidence in the tech companies increased from 2018-2021.”

So, what’s caused big tech’s reputation to take such a calamitous hit, and is there any path forward? Let’s explore.

Source: Paul Krugman

The factors behind big tech’s decline in trust

Though there are myriad reasons trust in tech has waned, three particular developments stand out: proliferation, privacy, and polarization.

The proliferation — and “enshittification” — of technology

In the last two decades, technology has permeated every aspect of life, from entertainment and education to healthcare and money management. This rapid saturation of technology resulted in a crowded, competitive space, where once well-intentioned companies inevitably began prioritizing profit over people.

In 2023, writer Cory Doctorow coined the term “enshittification” to explain “how the internet was colonized by platforms, and why all those platforms are degrading so quickly and thoroughly.” Doctorow explains the process of “enshittification” as a three-part progression:

“First, com­panies are good to their users. Once users are lured in and have been locked down, companies maltreat those users in order to shift value to business customers, the people who pay the platform’s bills. Once those business users are locked in, the platform starts to turn the screws on them, too – extracting more and more of the value generated by end-users and business customers until all that remains in the meanest residue, the least amount of value that can keep everyone locked into the platform.”

One doesn’t have to look far to find examples of enshittification in action. Facebook, once a hub for community connection, has increased its ad revenue from just over $40 billion in 2017 to over $120 billion in 2024. Google is increasingly prioritizing its own AI products over links to primary sources. Even Uber isn’t immune; Doctorow uses the ride-share company as an example of “‘twiddling’: the ability of digital platforms to change prices, rankings, and other key aspects from instant to instant, on a per-user basis.”

It’s hardly surprising that this shift from user value to unfettered growth has been accompanied by a rapid erosion of consumer trust.

Mounting privacy concerns

Brookings believes declining trust in tech “is likely at least partially due to perceptions of how tech companies use and secure private information from individuals.” Thales, too, pins responsibility on mounting security concerns, noting that of the thirteen sectors they recently examined, “not one sector reached above 50% approval” when consumers were asked if they trusted that industry with their personal data. Thales further notes, “This decline in trust comes as nearly one in five (19%) have been informed that their personal data has been compromised in the past year. Consequently, 82% have abandoned a brand in the past 12 months due to concerns about how their personal data was being used.”

An increasingly polarized ecosystem

Though technology debuted as a path to innovation and enlightenment, it has been cast in a more negative shadow recently. Words like “fake news,” “doomscrolling,” and “digital burnout” have become a part of the global vernacular, pointing towards mounting fatigue and distrust amongst consumers.

Digital natives are feeling particularly disillusioned with technology. According to TechCrunch, “a majority of teens reported low levels of trust” in companies like Google and Apple, and even platforms aimed at them, like TikTok. When asked to expound on their distrust, 64% of young people voiced concern that Big Tech doesn’t “care about their mental health and well-being” and 62% don’t trust these companies to “protect their safety if it hurts profits.” Even more tellingly, 53% “don’t think major tech companies make ethical and responsible design decisions” — pointing to things like “dark patterns” intended to “trick, confuse, or deceive.”

AI is, increasingly, at the heart of these concerns. “...41% of surveyed teens reported being misled by fake images online, 35% were misled by fake online content in general, and over a quarter (28%) wondered if they were talking to a bot or a human. A third of teens also said that GenAI would make it even harder to trust the accuracy of online information. That figure rises to 40% if the teens had previously been duped by fake or misleading content.”

Young people aren’t the only ones sounding the alarm, either. Covering the 2024 Edelman Trust Barometer, the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) found 39% of respondents believe technological innovation was “poorly managed” and that since 2019, “trust in AI companies has declined 8 points globally.”

Is it too late for Big Tech to restore its reputation?

Restoring broken trust is going to take more than a PR campaign or a rebrand. If big tech wants to survive, it’s going to need to take consumer concerns seriously and make some significant structural changes. The AEI makes several recommendations to help the tech industry down the right path:

• Mend the trust gap — Addressing the “disparity in trust towards AI and other innovations,” AEI calls for “policies and business strategies that democratize the benefits of innovation, ensuring they are accessible and beneficial to all societal strata, not just so-called ‘elites.’”
• Transparency at the top — Rebuilding trust starts with the people on top, and savvy technology leaders should assume the lion’s share of responsibility when it comes to restoring trust. AEI recommends, “transparent engagement with stakeholders, inclusive decision-making processes, and a commitment to understanding the societal impacts of technological advancements.” Furthermore, effective communication is mission-critical if leaders intend to “counteract misinformation and rebuild trust in science and technology.”
• Prioritize strategic partnerships — “The push for collaboration between business and government is more crucial than ever,” AEI declares. “Joint efforts can facilitate the development of regulatory frameworks that ensure innovation serves the public good, bridging the trust gap and fostering a more inclusive society.” These partnerships should also mitigate mounting privacy concerns, ensuring users that their data is protected and not being used nefariously.

It’s too late to return big tech to its former glory, but there’s still time to re-imagine a better sector, where innovation advances the good of the people instead of treating consumers as commodities.

Only time will tell if those at the top of tech are willing to make the significant changes necessary to shift the court of public opinion.