Our latest scientific assessment, Trends in the Information Environment: 2026 Expert Survey Results, is a survey from 470 experts studying the information environment across 71 countries, with close to half focused on developing economies.
The survey finds that 76 percent of experts expect the information environment in their country of expertise to worsen over the coming year, the highest level of pessimism recorded since the IPIE began this survey in 2023.
Selected findings from the report:
- Experts identify the lack of platform accountability as the most significant threat to the information environment, rated a big or extreme threat by 78 percent of respondents, ahead of misinformation at 73 percent and polarization at 69 percent.
- Researchers report increasing constraints on their own work. The proportion citing political pressure to align research with a government agenda rose from 21 percent to 33 percent over the past year, while reports of government censorship more than doubled, from 11 to 23 percent.
- On generative AI in search, expert opinion is divided. While 79 percent expect AI summaries to help users find answers more quickly, 64 percent expect reduced traffic to news websites as a result, and 58 percent expect a narrowing in the range of viewpoints encountered.
The full Synthesis Report, together with the Summary for Policymakers, questionnaire and replication data, is available at the links below. A recorded expert panel discussion, held on 16 September, 2026, is also available for those wishing to explore the report’s findings and their policy implications in greater depth. Watch the recording.
Read the full report and the Summary for Policymakers.