Amazon and Google Have a More ‘Positive Impact on Society’ Than Apple: REPORT

A new survey suggests that people think Amazon has the most positive impact on society of the major tech companies.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has in the past been outspoken about the Cupertino company being a “force for good” in the world. However, when it comes to which tech giants have the most positive impact on society, the public has spoken — and the answer isn’t Apple, but rather Amazon.

A new SurveyMonkey/Recode survey of 2,722 U.S. adults shows that some 20 percent of Americans believe Amazon is having the most positive impact on society out of any other major tech company. Amazon is followed by Google, which received 15 percent of the votes. Apple took the third spot with 11 percent of the votes.

Despite the backlash it faced because of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Facebook still managed to win 10 percent of the votes. 20 percent of the survey respondents didn’t think any of the listed companies had that big of an impact on the society.

The survey further reveals that Amazon’s Jeff Bezos was ranked as the “most likely major tech CEO to have the greatest impact on people’s daily lives,” with 22 percent of the total votes in his favor. Google’s Sundar Pichai followed with 18 percent of the votes and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg made the top three with 17 percent of the votes. Apple’s Tim Cook didn’t make it to the top three.

While the survey is useful enough as a barometer of public sentiment, though, it’s not particularly useful. No details have been published about exactly why users voted the way they do, which makes the whole endeavor seem more like a brand recognition survey than anything else.