According to a new survey, compared with Apple, more users trust Amazon and Google to handle their personal user data and Internet browsing activities, while the vast majority of users do not trust Facebook, TikTok and Instagram. The Washington Post survey conducted a sample survey of more than 1,000 Internet users in the United States to understand their concerns about the responsible handling of their user data and browsing activities by Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, WhatsApp, YouTube, Google, Microsoft, Apple, and Amazon.
Users were investigated whether they trusted (a great deal), a good amount, not much or not at all these companies and platforms, Users can also indicate that they have no opinion on a company. Among the respondents, 18% said they trusted Apple very much, while Google and Amazon scored 14%.
But in the quiet trust category, Amazon leads with 39%, Google leads with 34%, and Apple lags behind with 26%. Combining these two positive categories, Apple’s overall net positive score is 44%, lagging behind Google’s 48% and Amazon’s 53%.
In negative trust, survey data shows that among Amazon, Apple, Google, and Microsoft, 40% of respondents said they don’t trust Facebook to process their user data at all. Facebook received the title of least trustworthy among all respondents. Another survey conducted last week showed a similar situation.
Users ranked Facebook, now known as Meta, as the worst company in 2021. Apple tied for best with Amazon with a net negative score of 40%, with Microsoft at 42% and Google at 47%. When users were also asked about targeted online advertising, 82% said they found targeted online advertising very annoying, 74% thought they were aggressive, and only 27% thought they were helpful.
One of the most controversial and concerning privacy measures Apple has introduced in recent years is App Tracking Transparency (ATT), whose indirect purpose is to limit annoying and intrusive advertisements that most users don’t seem to like.
It is reported that ATT requires applications to obtain user consent before tracking users. For users who opt-out of tracking, apps and data brokers can only have fewer data points to show users targeted online advertisements. Facebook has lobbied against ATT, saying it is harmful to small businesses that rely on advertising for their livelihoods.