The Trust Crisis in Online Communities: What Brands Are Getting Wrong

Speaking with CX Today, Susan Ganeshan, CMO at Emplifi, explores why customer trust in digital community spaces is under mounting pressure, and what brands must do to course correct. As more of the customer journey takes place on community platforms like Reddit, review sites, and social channels, the stakes for getting this right have never been higher. Ganeshan draws on Emplifi’s latest consumer research with 85% of consumers saying they are willing to pay more for brands they consider authentic, and 93% saying that genuine engagement is what builds their trust in the first place.In regard to AI transparency, Emplifi’s recent report found that disclosure has become a non-negotiable for today’s shoppers. Ganeshan highlights that 91% of consumers now expect a brand to be explicit about when and how it is using AI, whether that’s responding to a community post, routing a query, or generating dynamic content on a website. For brands still treating AI-powered interactions as invisible, this represents a significant trust gap. The data suggests that consumers apply the same rigorous expectations to community spaces as they do to direct brand touchpoints, and that inconsistency across channels is one of the fastest ways to erode confidence.Ganeshan also argues that user-generated content is a trust accelerant, where consumers are far more likely to trust images and peer reviews than polished brand photography, they want to see products in real homes, real cars, and real lives, not studio settings. Combined with the growing influence of Reddit and similar platforms, this means brands can no longer afford to be passive bystanders in the spaces where their reputation is being shaped daily. The conversation is happening whether they participate or not, and showing up authentically, with clear privacy guardrails and consistent messaging separating trusted brands from those losing ground.Looking ahead, Ganeshan anticipates that trust will move from being a peripheral concern to a core design principle for CMOs. Governance tools and AI-powered workflows will play a growing role in helping teams identify where human intervention is needed and where automation can operate safely at scale. The brands that win, she argues, will be those that approach every community interaction with the same transparency, consistency, and accountability they bring to every other part of the customer experience.