Trends in the Information environment: 2025 Expert Survey Results

The report presents findings from the 2025 IPIE Expert Survey, highlighting a growing pessimism about the future of the information environment. It identifies the availability of accurate information and diverse voices as essential for a healthy environment, while citing lack of platform accountability as a primary threat. The document also examines the mixed impact of social media, the negative perceptions of generative AI, and the increasing barriers faced by researchers, particularly regarding funding and academic freedom.

• Experts consistently identify the availability of accurate information and the presence of diverse voices as the most critical components of a healthy information environment. Specifically, 67% of experts view the availability of accurate information as "absolutely essential".
• There is a significant regional divide regarding the primary barriers to media diversity. Experts focusing on developed countries primarily cite the "dominance of large private media companies" (32%), whereas those studying developing countries identify "political control or censorship" as the top barrier (32%).
• Lack of platform accountability is viewed as a major threat, with 76% of experts classifying it as a "big or extreme threat". Other significant threats include mis/disinformation, polarization, and concentrated media ownership.
• Generative AI is perceived as having a mostly negative impact on the information environment, with experts expecting these negative effects to increase over the next five years. AI-generated videos are considered more threatening than AI-generated text.
• Social media is viewed as a double-edged sword: over 75% of experts believe it has increased polarization, populism, and mental health issues, yet more than half believe it has increased political participation.
• Research barriers have shifted, with funding opportunities (62%) now overtaking data access (49%) as the most frequently mentioned obstacle. US-based experts are particularly likely to report "government control of funding" (48%) as a barrier.
• Researchers face significant personal and professional risks; 23% reported being "harassed or doxed", and one-third of experts reported self-censoring on social media due to career concerns.
• Expert pessimism regarding the future of the information environment has risen steadily from 54% in 2023 to 72% in 2025. In 2025, experts in developed countries (76%) were more pessimistic than those in developing countries (67%).

APA

Altay, S., Valenzuela, S., & Howard, P. N. (2025). Trends in the Information environment: 2025 Expert Survey Results. International Panel on the Information Environment. https://www.ipie.info/research/sr2025-2

Chicago

Altay, Sacha, Sebastián Valenzuela, and Philip N. Howard. Trends in the Information environment: 2025 Expert Survey Results. International Panel on the Information Environment, 2025. https://www.ipie.info/research/sr2025-2.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Altay |first1=Sacha |last2=Valenzuela |first2=Sebastián |last3=Howard |first3=Philip N. |title=Trends in the Information environment: 2025 Expert Survey Results |publisher=International Panel on the Information Environment |date=2025 |url=https://www.ipie.info/research/sr2025-2 |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{altay2025trends, author = {Altay, Sacha and Valenzuela, Sebastián and Howard, Philip N.}, title = {{Trends in the Information environment: 2025 Expert Survey Results}}, institution = {International Panel on the Information Environment}, year = {2025}, url = {https://www.ipie.info/research/sr2025-2}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }