In terms of data protection, Amazon reaches the highest amount of trust compared to other online brands
Not only since the General Data Protection Regulation was adopted by the European Union in 2016 has the protection of personal data on the internet been a hot topic in Germany. Germans in general seem to have a rather distrustful attitude towards online services. According to the Digital Advertising 2021 Report published by the Statista Global Consumer Survey, one in three Germans only uses websites and apps that they know and trust. More than 40% of German internet users are concerned that companies collect too much of their personal data while they are online, and almost one in two users tries to share as little personal information as possible. Not all online services arouse the same amount of distrust among German onliners, though. Social media platforms or blogs and forums, for example, are among the less trusted services, while search engines and video portals reach higher trust levels. Online stores rank in midfield. When asked about actual brands and companies, the trust that German internet users place in online services also varies greatly:
Having in mind that only 17% of German internets users state that they generally trust online stores when it comes to the protection of their personal data, the number one most trusted online brand might come as a surprise: With 42% of German internet users trustfully sharing their personal data with Amazon, the eCommerce giant, is the most frequently trusted online brand in the eyes of German onliners. Amazon thus also reaches significantly higher trust levels than other tech giants like Google, Apple or Facebook. Only one in five German internet users trusts Facebook to handle their data responsibly, for instance. The Asian tech companies Huawei and LG reach the lowest levels of trust in this comparison: Only 11% and 10% of German internet users have a good feeling when sharing their personal data with the two brands, respectively. Most noticeably, none of the mentioned brands reaches trust levels above 50%. In other words, most Germans still do not trust any of the brands to handle their personal data in a responsible way. 32% of respondents explicitly state that they trust none of the mentioned companies. There is thus still a lot of work to do for internet companies in the field of data protection and transparency in the eyes of the German online population.
