ABSTRACT
This chapter explores different methods of establishing trust in online advertising, followed by a discussion of challenges for regulators. The Internet’s early architecture was built on a foundation of trust, but as it has matured, its uses and relationship with users has become increasingly complex. In China, the likes of Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent dominate the big four marketing categories, shopping, social, streaming and searching, in the world’s most populous country. Social networking on the Internet takes place in a context of trust, but trust is complex and can be fragile. Disgraced wellness blogger Belle Gibson built an online community and sold a recipe book off the back of claims she cured terminal brain cancer through diet and lifestyle alone. In e-commerce, a trustmark is an electronic commerce badge, image or logo displayed on a website to indicate that the website business has been shown to be trustworthy by the issuing organisation.
