WASHINGTON — A sweeping new Pew Research Center survey across 37 countries finds that public opinion about social media and democracy has darkened considerably since 2022, with many nations now matching or exceeding the deep pessimism long expressed by Americans. In the United States, 64% of adults say social media has been more of a bad thing than a good thing for democracy, identical to the share in 2022. But the U.S. is no longer the most negative country on this question. In the Netherlands, 70% now say social media has been bad for democracy, up from 54% four years ago. France (65%), Germany (61%), the United Kingdom (56%) and Canada (55%) have also joined the U.S. in having majority-negative views. The findings are based on interviews with 42,151 people conducted from Feb. 8 to May 13, 2026, in 36 countries, plus two separate U.S. surveys. Pew surveyed 3,507 U.S. adults from March 23 to 29, 2026, through its American Trends Panel, and 5,511 U.S. adults from Jan. 30 to June 18, 2026, through the National Public Opinion Reference Survey. The surveys were designed to represent the views of the adult population in each country. In 2022, the U.S. was by far the most negative nation surveyed: 64% said social media had been bad for democracy, 10 percentage points higher than the Netherlands, which was second-most negative. This year, the Dutch have overtaken the U.S., and the report says “in many ways, people in other countries are catching up with Americans’ grim take on the effects of social media.”
Across the 37 nations, the median share saying social media has been more of a bad thing than a good thing for democracy is 35%. But this overall figure masks a stark divide by national wealth. The median among high-income countries is 46%, compared with 28% among middle-income countries. Negative sentiment has increased in 16 of the 26 countries where trend data from 2022 or 2023 is available. Among countries with statistically significant changes from 2022, the increases are striking: Canada rose from 47% to 55%, France from 51% to 65%, Germany from 41% to 61%, Greece from 35% to 43%, Hungary from 22% to 42%, the Netherlands from 54% to 70%, Poland from 15% to 35%, Spain from 32% to 47%, Sweden from 35% to 47%, the United Kingdom from 48% to 56%, Japan from 23% to 43%, and South Korea from 32% to 38%. The U.S. held steady at 64%. The list of countries with large negative majorities now extends well beyond the U.S. and the Netherlands. In addition to France, Germany, the U.K. and Canada, 52% of Australians say social media has harmed democracy. Around four-in-ten or more in Spain (47%), Sweden (47%), Italy (44%), Greece (43%), Japan (43%), Hungary (42%) and South Korea (38%) hold that view. In middle-income nations, negative sentiment is generally lower but still substantial in some places: 43% in Indonesia and Chile, 35% in Turkey, Sri Lanka, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and Argentina, 34% in Peru, 33% in Colombia, 29% in Brazil, 28% in Bangladesh and South Africa, 27% in Malaysia, 26% in Mexico, 24% in Kenya, 23% in India and the Philippines, 21% in Ghana and Thailand, and 11% in Nigeria. Even in some high-income countries, negative views are relatively low, including 22% in Singapore and Israel. The report groups the West Bank and East Jerusalem with middle-income countries for analysis, though the World Bank classification refers to the West Bank and Gaza; Gaza could not be surveyed.
Americans remain among the most pessimistic in the world when asked about specific consequences of internet and social media use. 81% of U.S. adults say access to the internet and social media has made people more divided in their political opinions, essentially unchanged from 79% in 2022. That is higher than the 37-country median of 68% and the high-income median of 76%. At the same time, Americans are among the least likely to see positive effects. Only 68% say access has made people more informed about current events, well below the 37-country median of 77% and the high-income median of 78%. And just 50% say it has made people able to have a meaningful voice in politics, compared with medians of 60% across all countries and 59% across high-income countries. On misinformation, 87% of Americans say the internet and social media have made it easier to manipulate people with false information and rumors; that matches the high-income median of 87% and is higher than the 37-country median of 79%. The U.S. is not alone in worrying about divisions, but its combination of high anxiety about polarization and low confidence in the informational and democratic benefits of social media sets it apart. Compared with most other high-income publics, Americans are relatively negative on these measures. They are among the most likely to think social media has amplified political divisions and among the least likely to say it has made people better informed or given them a meaningful political voice.
The belief that social media is tearing at the political fabric has become markedly more common around the world. In 11 of 18 countries with comparable trend data, the share saying access to the internet and social media has made people more divided in their political opinions rose significantly since 2022; in the other seven, it was essentially unchanged. Among the countries with significant increases are Australia, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. In Australia, the share rose from 66% to 79%; in Germany, from 65% to 82%; in Hungary, from 67% to 79%; in Poland, from 66% to 80%; in Spain, from 66% to 80%; in Sweden, from 71% to 79%; and in the U.K., from 66% to 79%. France also saw a significant increase, from 52% to 69%, though it remains below the roughly eight-in-ten levels reached in several other European countries. Canada (77%) and the Netherlands (82%) already had high levels and did not change significantly. Today, about eight-in-ten adults in the U.S., Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, the U.K. and Australia say social media is making people more divided. In Asia, Japan saw an increase from 47% to 64%, Malaysia from 43% to 53%, and Singapore from 51% to 60%. The U.S. share of 81% remains among the highest, but it is no longer the outlier it once was. The report’s authors note that in 2022, the U.S. stood apart from most other countries; now, several allies and partners have caught up or moved ahead on the core question of whether social media is harmful to democracy.
The survey also examined whether Americans use the same social media platforms as people in other countries. Respondents were asked about five platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and X, formerly known as Twitter. Facebook is the most popular platform in the U.S., followed by Instagram and TikTok; for all three, U.S. usage is close to the 37-country median. X is used by 18% of American adults, exactly the same as the median across the 37 countries. The one notable outlier is Snapchat: 26% of Americans say they use it, compared with a 37-country median of 18%. Age patterns in the U.S. also resemble those in other countries. In the U.S. and most other nations, adults ages 18 to 34 are more likely than older age groups to use Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and X. But there is an interesting divergence on Facebook: in the U.S. and several other high-income countries, 35- to 49-year-olds are the most likely to use Facebook, while in middle-income countries, adults under 35 are the most likely to use it. The platform findings are part of a broader effort to understand how social media use intersects with attitudes about democracy. Even as usage patterns remain broadly similar across countries, the same platforms are viewed with increasing suspicion in many parts of the world. This matters for policymakers and tech companies alike, as public skepticism about social media’s effects on politics is no longer confined to the United States.
The report is part of a larger Pew Research Center project examining how people around the world feel about their democracies and the impact of social media and emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence. Pew said it conducted the research to help the public, media and decision-makers understand important topics. The international surveys were conducted by telephone or face-to-face in each country, and Pew noted that in Hungary and Poland, changes in survey mode over time mean comparisons with earlier years should be interpreted with caution. The 2022 baseline survey covered 19 mostly high-income countries; the 2026 survey expands coverage to 37 countries, including many middle-income nations. The inclusion of those countries helps explain some of the differences in overall medians, but the trend is clear: in country after country, publics have become more negative about social media’s influence on democracy. The U.S. remains a striking case—still deeply pessimistic, still above most other nations on measures of polarization and misinformation, and still below most on measures of whether social media empowers citizens. But the gap between America and the rest of the world has narrowed substantially. As governments from Europe to Asia to Latin America debate how to regulate platforms, they are doing so against a backdrop of rising public skepticism. The Pew report concludes that “people in other countries are catching up with Americans’ grim take on the effects of social media”—and that the challenge of social media and democracy is now a shared global concern.