IPIE Global Expert Survey 2026: Lack of Accountability Tops Threats to the Information Environment, Ahead of Disinformation
78% of the experts surveyed rate platforms’ lack of accountability as a large or extreme threat, ranking it above disinformation (73%). The annual survey by the International Panel on the Information Environment (IPIE), conducted with 470 researchers from 71 countries, also shows a rise in barriers to researching the information environment: restricted access to data increased from 49% to 60% in a single year. Sebastián Valenzuela, a researcher at the Millennium Institute for Foundational Research on Data (IMFD) and Chief Science Officer at IPIE, took part in preparing the report.
The way people access information is changing. Over the past two decades, search engines, social media, and smartphones have put the world’s information within a single click. At the same time, people are increasingly receiving information that has already been curated for them, whether by recommendation algorithms or by generative artificial intelligence systems that provide a direct answer instead of linking to a source.
This shift is taking place within what the International Panel on the Information Environment (IPIE), an independent scientific organization based in Switzerland, defines as the information environment:
The set of physical, social, and digital environments that influence how people, organizations, or countries communicate, interact with, and process information.
Since 2023, IPIE has conducted its annual survey, Trends in the Information Environment: 2026 Expert Survey Results, to track how experts from different countries around the world perceive the information environment of the country they know best. Here we review the results, which were presented at an online briefing on September 16 featuring Sebastián Valenzuela, Chief Science Officer at IPIE, a professor at the Facultad de Comunicaciones UC, and a researcher at the Millennium Institute for Foundational Research on Data (IMFD) and the Millennium Nucleus on Digital Inequalities and Opportunities (NUDOS).
What is this survey, and who takes part?
“This survey measures expert judgment. It is a snapshot of where the scientific field’s consensus stands,” Valenzuela explained.
This year’s report is the fourth edition and addresses five questions:
- What characterizes a healthy information environment
- What are its main threats
- How generative AI and other technologies are transforming it
- How it is expected to evolve
- What barriers those who study it face
The survey was conducted between May 6 and June 8, 2026. A total of 509 researchers began it, and 470 completed it; those 470 responses make up the sample analyzed. Participants reported expertise spanning 71 countries. The sample is concentrated in the United States and Western Europe, but includes significant representation from developing economies, including Brazil, Argentina, Chile, China, India, Malawi, the Philippines, Kenya, and Nigeria. Each person indicated a single primary country of specialization.
The report clarifies that this is not a probabilistic sample of experts or of the population, and that each edition brings together a similar, though not identical, group of respondents.
What a healthy information environment needs most
For the fourth consecutive year, experts agree that what a healthy information environment needs most is accurate information and a diversity of voices.
At the same time, a gap emerges between what people can find and what they believe. Seventy-six percent of experts say that people in their country can relatively easily access diverse points of view online, but only 28% think most people trust that major media outlets report on politics accurately. Experts studying developing economies are the most skeptical: fewer than a quarter believe most people feel able to distinguish true information from false, compared with 44% among those studying developed economies.
What are the main threats to the information environment?
Regarding threats, the greatest concern is the lack of platform accountability: 78% consider it a major or extreme threat, ahead of disinformation (73%) and polarization (69%). Generative AI ranked last among the six threats assessed, although 47% still rated it as a major or extreme threat.
How are generative AI and other technologies transforming the information environment?
Despite that ranking, for the third consecutive year experts expect generative AI to worsen the information environment over the next five years. Among its effects, AI-generated video is what concerns them most, while AI-generated text concerns them least.
One concrete case involves AI-generated summaries in search engines. 79% expect them to help people find answers faster, but 64% believe they will reduce traffic to news sites, and 58% think they will narrow the range of viewpoints people access. “That is not a concern about the AI model’s capability, but about what is shown, what is left out, and who decides,” explained Sebastián Valenzuela.
Search engines were the only technology whose effects on society experts rated as clearly positive (80%), although the question did not distinguish between searches with and without AI summaries, so this assessment does not amount to an endorsement of AI-assisted search. Social media, generative AI, and recommendation systems received mixed to negative ratings.
How is it expected to evolve?
Regarding how the environment will evolve, 76% of experts say they expect it to worsen over the next year. Only 14% expect it to improve. The report warns that, unlike in previous years, this edition’s increase remains within the usual range of year-to-year variation, so it is not yet possible to say whether the trend is continuing or leveling off.
What barriers do those who study it face?
Finally, regarding conditions for research. Funding remains the most frequently cited barrier, mentioned by 67%, followed by restricted access to data, which reached 60% from 49% the previous year. Political pressures also increased: attempts to align research with a government agenda rose from 21% to 33%, and reports of government censorship rose from 11% to 23%.
Sacha Altay, consulting scientist for the IPIE’s Science and Methodology Committee and lead author of the survey, noted that what has changed over these four years is not the diagnosis of what a healthy information environment needs, but rather the mood of those who study it: they see the power of platforms growing, public trust in news at low levels, and their own ability to conduct research under pressure, all at the same time.
The report’s results were presented online alongside a panel of experts that included Maria Donde, Director of International Affairs at Ireland’s media regulator Coimisiún na Meán; Charlotte Scaddan, Senior Adviser on Information Integrity at United Nations Global Communications; and Hernando Rojas, professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Read the full report, Trends in the Information Environment: 2026 Expert Survey Results, on the IPIE website.
How to cite this report:
International Panel on the Information Environment [S. Altay, S. Valenzuela, P. N. Howard (eds.)], “Trends in the Information Environment: 2026 Expert Survey Results”, Zurich, Switzerland: IPIE, 2026. Synthesis Report, SR2026.3. DOI: 10.61452/MEMA1194
Watch the report presentation again:
—
Cover photo: Pexels/ Pixabay