The Covid-19 pandemic has swayed the entire world, causing a huge decline in the global economy. With loss of lives and livelihood, the distrust in the world – toward governments and various sectors –has rapidly accelerated. The technology sector that enjoyed the status of being the topmost trusted sector in several countries for several years, has surprisingly lost its footing. Although its performance has been great in the stock market, as well as in providing breakthroughs in remote work and ecommerce during the pandemic, the fear of being replaced by artificial intelligence and machine learning as well as disinformation has caused a huge dent in trust.
The decline of trust in the tech sector has been very surprising. It was one of the most trusted sectors in the U.S in 2020, but has fallen below 60%Opens a new window for the first time, reaching down to ninth position. The technology sector has also recorded double-digit declines in main markets such as China (-16%), Canada (-15 percent), the U.S. (-13%) and the UK (-12%). Globally, trust in technology has dropped by six points, with all time low trust in 17 of the 27 countries that were surveyed.
The difference in decline in trust in technology between developed and developing markets is also noteworthy. While in countries like France, Japan and Russia, the trust in the tech sector fell below 60%, it maintained its positions in developing nations like Indonesia, Malaysia, and Mexico. One of the major reasons for this disparity is that the tech industry is still one of the biggest job providers in developing countries.
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Driving Forces Behind the Global Distrust in Tech
At the initial stage of the pandemic, many organizations and employees had to adapt to work from home model and for smooth functioning, were required to share personal data. The information also helped governments track and curb the spread of the infection. The pandemic also marked a huge wave of digital transformation, where enterprises moved to cloud solutions. Tech proved to be a huge support in powering remote work and ecommerce.
So, what changed? Increase in job insecurity has played an important role in the declining trust in the tech sector. A lot of people in travel, tourism, retail, and service sectors lost their jobs in the pandemic. Whatever hopes they had of returning to work post-pandemic was taken away by their organizations’ shift from human workers to deploying solutions from automation, robots and AI. 84% of the participants admitted that they were extremely anxious of being redundant, while nearly half of them are hopeful that with job skills training, they may get back in the workforce in due time.
Another important factor is data privacy. The research also found that trust in Big Tech fell by 10% between 2019 and 2021. Just in the U.S., big tech executives have testified 15 times in the Congress in the last six months for matters including misuse of information and data security. Several big tech organizations like Google are facing antitrust investigations in Europe and Australia. Although not entirely unrelated, the recent disruption during the U.S. election fueled by misinformation and distasteful news circulating in the social media also played a part in increasing distrust. The rampant hacks and data breaches in the last six month seem to have dealt the final fatal blow to the trust in the tech sector, raising deep concerns in matters of data privacy and security.
Next Step in Regaining Trust
Until now, the technology sector enjoyed its top position in the trust barometer because it created jobs, made things easier, was a good stock investment, and made an overall difference in the world. However, it can no longer depend on these factors and must proactively adapt to changes to regain trust to save itself from potential downfall in the next couple of years.
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The survey also revealed that tech employees are more convinced in their ability to influence corporate strategy to follow what they preach. 59% of tech employees said that they are now willing to engage in workplace protests if they disagree with a corporate policy. They want their employer to fill the void and offer trustworthy information.
In a blog post, Richard Edelman, CEO of Edelman writes about the steps the tech industry must take to regain trust. He wrote, “The operative question is how the sector can and should respond. There are the easy solutions such as committing to a more diverse management and workforce. The harder part is to take accountability for what they enable their customers to do, in replacing humans with machines and using data to change behavior. It is also inadvisable for tech companies to avoid the mainstream media by starting their own media companies. Government becomes a necessary partner in establishing a playing field and acting as referee.â€
The tech industry must share responsibility for upscaling skills for those replaced by AI. They must also be open to government regulations in matters of human rights, data privacy, global warming, and responsible tech. Instead of hoarding power in the hands of a few, the tech companies can thrive by adopting diversity and inclusion. And most importantly, tech companies need to be more transparent.Â
What reasons could have led to the decline of trust in technology? Let us know on LinkedInOpens a new window , TwitterOpens a new window , or FacebookOpens a new window . We would love to hear from you!