New Report: A Congressional Survey of Regulating Tech Policies Priorities

The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies released the fourth analysis — “Building a More Inclusive Agenda: A Survey of Congressional Priorities Across Race  —  Priorities for Technology Policy” — that tracks what Americans believe Congress should prioritize.

As part of its Data for Black America Project, the Joint Center partnered with NORC at the University of Chicago to survey more than 1,200 Americans across race and ethnicity to understand the importance of priorities for members of Congress. For priorities regulating tech policies, ​​respondents were surveyed on how they believe Congress should prioritize various tech-related issues. These issues included: ensuring online privacy, holding tech companies accountable for misinformation on their platforms, and regulating companies’ use of technology in decision-making processes, such as job interviews and loan approvals.

Of the priorities, passing legislation to protect online privacy and data was rated the highest by respondents, with 73 percent of all respondents saying this priority should be an important or top priority for Congress. Asian American/Pacific Islander, multiracial, and other non-Hispanic respondents (87 percent) are significantly more likely than respondents from any other racial or ethnic group to believe that passing legislation to protect their online privacy and data should be an important or top priority for Congress. Nearly three-fourths (74 percent) of white respondents, 72 percent of Black respondents, and 62 percent of Hispanic respondents believe that passing legislation to protect their online privacy and data should be an important or top priority for Congress.

The results revealed intriguing patterns across racial and ethnic lines. Black respondents, on average, were more inclined to view all tech-related issues as top priorities for Congress. Specifically, Black respondents were significantly more likely than any other group of respondents to believe that regulation of companies' use of tech to make decisions about job interviews or loans should be an important or top priority for Congress. However, this was less of a concern for white and Hispanic respondents.

For Hispanic, multiracial, and white respondents, the paramount concern was ensuring online privacy. However, multiracial respondents were more likely than any other group to believe that passing legislation to protect online privacy and data should be an important or top priority for Congress. Lastly, multiracial respondents were significantly more likely than respondents from any other group to believe that holding tech companies responsible for people spreading misinformation or falsehoods online should be an important or top priority for Congress.

Respondents evaluated several issue areas around regulating tech policy in terms of their level of importance, categorizing them as a top priority, an important but lower priority, not too important a priority, or something that should not be done. Topline results include:

• Almost three quarters (73 percent) of all respondents say that passing legislation to protect their online privacy and data should be an important or top priority for Congress.

  • Asian American/Pacific Islander, multiracial, and other non-Hispanic respondents (87 percent) are significantly more likely than respondents from any other racial or ethnic group to believe that passing legislation to protect their online privacy and data should be an important or top priority for Congress. Nearly three-fourths (74 percent) of white respondents, 72 percent of Black respondents, and 62 percent of Hispanic respondents believe that passing legislation to protect their online privacy and data should be an important or top priority for Congress.

• Almost two-thirds of respondents (64 percent) thought that it should be an important or top priority of Congress to hold technology companies responsible for people spreading misinformation or falsehoods online.

  • Asian American/Pacific Islander, multiracial, and other non-Hispanic respondents (83 percent) are significantly more likely than respondents of any other racial or ethnic group to believe that holding technology companies responsible for people spreading misinformation or falsehoods online should be an important or top priority for Congress. Slightly more than two-thirds (67 percent) of Black respondents, 64 percent of white respondents, and 52 percent of Hispanic respondents believe that holding technology companies responsible for people spreading misinformation or falsehoods online should be an important or top priority for Congress.

• Over 40 percent of respondents believe that regulating companies’ use of technology to make decisions about job interviews and loans should be an important or top priority for Congress.

  • Black respondents (60 percent) are significantly more likely than respondents of other races and ethnicities to believe that regulation of companies' use of technology to make decisions about job interviews and loans should be an important or top priority for Congress. Half of Asian American/Pacific Islander, multiracial, and other non-Hispanic respondents (50 percent) and 41 percent of both Hispanic and white respondents believe that regulation of companies' use of technology to make decisions about job interviews and loans should be an important or top priority for Congress.

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