According to a new survey, more users trust Amazon and Google to handle their personal user data and Internet browsing activity than Apple, while the vast majority of users do not trust Facebook, TikTok and Instagram. The Washington Post survey sampled more than 1,000 U.S. internet users to understand how much trust they trust Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, WhatsApp, YouTube, Google, Microsoft, Apple, and Amazon to handle their user data and browsing activities responsibly.
Users were investigated for companies and platforms that they "trusted a great deal," "a good amount," "not much," or "not at all," and they could also say they had no opinion on a company.
Of the respondents, 18 percent said they "trusted" Apple very much, compared to 14 percent for Google and Amazon. But in the "fairly trusted" category, Amazon leads with 39 percent, Google at 34 percent, and Apple trails with 26 percent. Combining these two positive categories, Apple's overall net positive score was 44 percent, behind Google's 48 percent and Amazon's 53 percent.
Among the negative trusts, survey data shows that among Amazon, Apple, Google and Microsoft, 40% of respondents said they simply do not trust Facebook to handle their user data. Facebook received the most untrustworthy title among all those surveyed. Another survey last week showed a similar picture, with users listing Facebook, now known as Meta, as the worst company of 2021.
Apple tied with Amazon with a net negative score of 40%, Microsoft at 42% and Google at 47%.
When netizens were also asked about targeted online advertising, 82 percent said they found targeted online ads very annoying, 74 percent thought they were aggressive, and only 27 percent thought they were helpful. One of the most controversial and highly concerned privacy measures Apple has introduced in recent years is "Transparency in Application Tracking (ATT)," whose indirect purpose is to limit annoying and intrusive ads that most users don't seem to like.
It is reported that ATT requires applications to obtain consent from users before tracking them. For users who opt out of tracking, apps and data brokers can only have fewer data points to show users online targeted ads. Facebook has lobbied against ATT, saying it is harmful to small businesses that rely on advertising for their livelihoods.