(Washington Insider Magazine) -In a recent poll that surveyed 1,004 American people, over 70 percent said the social media app makes society worse.
The CNN survey took place between Nov.1 through Nov. 4 through the web and phone. Every surveyor was over 18 years of age, with 35 percent claiming they are Democrats, 29 percent as Republicans, and 36 percent as Independent.
11 percent of the people surveyed said the social network is improving society, while 13 percent said they do not see a difference. However, over 70 percent of people who use the site several times a week said it makes society worse.
76 percent – or 763 people – said the network harms people, while others said it is not the network itself but others said it was the way people used Facebook that was doing the most harm.
Since 2016, Facebook has turned into a political social network which saw a division between Democrats and Republicans since Donald Trump was elected President. As recently as 2020, some Facebook users spread misinformation about the coronavirus vaccines.
Nearly half of those users have also said they knew someone who believed in conspiracy theories because of what they saw on Facebook.
One thing both parties can agree on, however, is the government increasing regulation on Facebook, claiming they are seeing “objectionable content” on the network while scrolling through the site.
While Facebook has been on the political spectrum since 2016, it has not seen a decline in since it began in 2004. Since 2012, the network has had over one billion active users throughout each year. Since the third quarter of 2021, Facebook reached 2.9 billion active users.
Facebook has recently been under fire, however, as recent information was leaked about the app spreading false information about the election, along with its struggle to stop human trafficking. It has defended false information spreading, however, as it recently added labels for users to do further research before coming to a conclusion.
It was also announced the app would shut down facial recognition after people were concerned it was falsely identifying criminals.
Facebook also owns Instagram, which was also under fire about how it has harmed the mental health of teenagers.
Overall, it has not been a good year for the company, which recently changed its named to Meta. While the company did not respond for comments based on the poll, it should be aware of the controversy surrounding it this year.
