The democratization of the internet has enabled anyone to launch a website and participate in "User Generated Content" platforms that range from rating restaurants to doctors. For nearly every topic there are millions of websites offering advice and information, all competing for user attention.

A new global survey by CIGI-IPSOS shows that only 14% of global respondents "strongly agreed" to trusting the internet, with 60% responding "somewhat agree". While cyber criminals are a huge contributing factor, increasingly distrust comes from the knowledge brokers: social media & search engines.

And yet, as a society, we are addicted to it. Fully 55% of the american public admit to getting most of their news through social media despite a majority distrusting the platforms to filter news for independent and trusted sources.

According to Uri Friedman, in the Atlantic:

Only a third of Americans now trust their government "to do what is right"-a decline of 14 percentage points from last year, according to a new report by the communications marketing firm Edelman. Forty-two percent trust the media, relative to 47 percent a year ago. Trust in business and non-governmental organizations, while somewhat higher than trust in government and the media, decreased by 10 and nine percentage points, respectively. Edelman, which for 18 years has been asking people around the world about their level of trust in various institutions, has never before recorded such steep drops in trust in the United States.