More people in countries around the world say social media is bad for democracy, a new Pew Research Center survey released Oct. 1 finds, but many still see something worth keeping alongside the misinformation and political friction.
“…people see both real upsides and real downsides when it comes to the impact of social media on politics,” Richard Wike, Pew Research Center’s director of global attitudes research, said in a December 2022 DEMOCRACY PARADOX interview about an earlier Pew survey. That tension remains visible in the new findings, which Wike coauthored.
Pew surveyed 45,658 people across 37 countries from Feb. 8 to May 13, 2026. In 16 of the 26 countries with results available from 2022 or 2023, the share saying social media has been bad for democracy increased.
The United States isn’t driving that rise. According to Pew’s comparison of American and international views, 64% of US adults give social media a negative assessment — the same percentage as in 2022. The Netherlands now registers an even higher figure: 70%, up from 54% four years ago.
At least half of adults in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the US say social media has been bad for democracy. But that list doesn’t tell the whole story. Across all 37 countries, the median share saying social media has been good for democracy is 55%, compared with 35% saying it has been bad.
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On separate questions about access to the internet and social media together, a median of 79% say those technologies have made people easier to manipulate with false information, while 68% say they have made people more politically divided. At the same time, 77% say they have made people more informed about current events, and 60% say they have increased people’s ability to have a meaningful voice in politics.
Younger adults generally see more upside. In the UK, 60% of adults ages 18 to 34 say social media has been good for democracy, compared with 31% of adults 50 and older. Americans under 35 are also more positive than older Americans, though fewer than half — 44% — give social media that favorable assessment.
Here’s an important distinction: Pew measured what people think, not whether social media caused democracy to deteriorate. Its published questionnaire asked respondents to weigh social media’s advantages and disadvantages for democracy in their own country. That is an opinion question, not a test of what an algorithm actually did.
Pew’s methodology describes national samples and a mix of telephone, face-to-face and online interviews. The US attitudes findings come from 3,507 adults surveyed March 23–29 through its probability-based American Trends Panel.
For families, the takeaway needn’t be another shouting match about which platform is worst. It can start with a quieter habit: check the original source before sharing a dramatic claim, and teach children to do the same. Being informed and being easily manipulated can look surprisingly similar when all we do is scroll.
Read Next: How Do Politics and Social Media Collide?
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