According to a new survey conducted by The Washinton Post, more American users trust Amazon and Google to handle their personal user data and internet browsing activity than Apple. On the flip side, users widely distrust Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram with their data.
Google and Amazon seen as more trustworthy than Apple, WP poll finds
The Washington Post poll was conducted to determine how much users trust various platforms and companies like WhatsApp, Google, Amazon, Apple, and more. When it comes to handling personal user information and data, Amazon (53%) took the number one spot. Google (48%) comes in at number two with Apple (44%) coming in at third. Microsoft (43%) is in the fourth spot with YouTube (35%) rounding out the top five.
According to the survey, 72 percent of Internet users trust Facebook “not much” or “not at all” to responsibly handle their personal information and data on their Internet activity. About 6 in 10 distrust TikTok and Instagram, while slight majorities distrust WhatsApp and YouTube. Google, Apple and Microsoft receive mixed marks for trust, while Amazon is slightly positive with 53 percent trusting the company at least “a good amount.” (Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.)
Only 10 percent say Facebook has a positive impact on society, while 56 percent say it has a negative impact and 33 percent say its impact is neither positive nor negative. Even among those who use Facebook daily, more than three times as many say the social network has a negative rather than a positive impact.
The poll was carried out by Schar School in partnership with the WP and surveyed a random sample of users in the United States. Participants were presented with nine tech giants and were asked whether they trusted them, distrusted them, or had no opinion.
Even if we do not take the small sample size into account, the reliability of the data collected by the WP is low. The report itself says the sample size was 1,122 people, while the graphic says it was 1,058. In addition, the small sample size gives an error margin of +/-4% which means that Apple’s percentage could be anywhere in the 40-48% range which could place it higher or lower on the list.
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