Greater public attention to privacy has reduced trust in all tech providers, including those like Apple and Google that have positioned themselves as privacy-friendly.  Apple’s rank in Jebbit’s annual Consumer Data Trust Index fell from 17 to 43, while Google fell from number 4 to 89.  Amazon fell just slightly, from first to fourth place, while Facebook actually improved a bit from 97 to 88.

About 21% of global consumers use an ad blocker, according to this Blockthrough study.  The rate has been roughly flat for the past few years, rising slightly for desktop users and falling for mobile devices in 2022.  The more intriguing news is that 95% of adblock users agree to allow non-intrusive ads when given the choice.

There’s probably no limit to Amazon’s greed – because capitalism – but there are constraints as governments regulate BigTech more aggressively and, just maybe, the free market works its wonders. Amazon cited “seller sentiment related to the fee” in its statement pulling back from its planned 2% fee on sellers who don’t use its Prime fulfillment services.  But looming antitrust cases likely had something to do with it.