Trend · rank 30 of 250

Misinformation & disinformation

Cheap automated production and platform distribution are increasing the volume of false and misleading information, raising the cost of verification and weakening the shared factual basis for public decisions and crisis response.

Information & InfluenceInformation & trustinformationaipolitics

Second pass: Carried forward from the first pass unchanged. Held by all three panel models.

Sensitivity and network position

Rank
30of 250
Sensitivity
21.7rank 22
Breadth
3of 20 scenarios High or above
PageRank
57.0rank 28
Eigenvector
41.3
Betweenness
4.0
Links
18trends at Moderate similarity or above
Composite
38.5

Attention over three years

How much this trend is read about on Wikipedia and searched for on Google, week by week, set against the typical trend in the list so that what moves every trend at once is taken out. 100 is this trend's own three-year average. The score measures public attention, which is not the same as the strength of the force: a trend can deepen unnoticed, and a news event can lift attention for a fortnight.

Share of attention
0.83%rank 31 of 250 · a year earlier 0.85%
Now
90
Over a year
−12%Steady
Over three years
−12%
Peak
1778 Sept 2024
Sources
Bothagreement 0.42
Coverage
21languages · 55 nations

Trailing 4-week average. 100 is this trend’s three-year average.

By language

Wikipedia reading in each language edition where the trend’s pages are read enough to measure (21 of 28). Share is of all the readers counted.

LanguageShareNowOver a yearThree years
English47%80−17%
Spanish8%88−30%
French7%83−9%
German6%76−7%
Portuguese5%125+10%
Japanese5%98−19%
Italian4%63−24%
Russian4%116+20%
Chinese3%73−12%
Persian2%96−10%
Polish2%75−23%
Turkish1%84−5%
Korean1%98−20%
Ukrainian1%55−69%
Dutch1%73−20%
Arabic1%112+10%
Bengali1%50+5%
Hebrew1%138+41%
Indonesian1%83−45%
Vietnamese0%92−31%
Swedish0%85−10%

By country

Google search interest over the three years, as a share of each country’s searching. 100 is the nation where interest is highest. The search terms are English, which favours countries that search in English.

The 12 highest of 55 nations with a reading. All countries (CSV).

By region and G20 member

Attention to this trend inside each place, from Google searches made in its countries and Wikipedia reading in the languages mostly read there, averaged where both exist. Each line compares the trend with its own past in that place; the lines do not compare places.

Regions

PlaceRead fromNow90 days1 year3 yearsThree years
North AmericaGoogle in 2 countries + Wikipedia in English78+2%−16%−11%
EuropeGoogle in 9 countries + Wikipedia in German, French, Italian, Polish, Dutch, Swedish77−10%−12%−21%
ChinaGoogle in 1 country79−63%+32%−11%
Indo-PacificGoogle in 11 countries + Wikipedia in Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Indonesian93−9%−18%−2%
South AsiaGoogle in 3 countries + Wikipedia in Bengali154+132%+135%+199%
Gulf and Middle EastGoogle in 5 countries + Wikipedia in Persian, Arabic, Turkish, Hebrew89−20%−5%−21%
AfricaGoogle in 5 countries88−5%+12%+9%
Latin America and CaribbeanGoogle in 4 countries + Wikipedia in Spanish, Portuguese112−1%+4%+43%
Russia and EurasiaGoogle in 1 country + Wikipedia in Russian, Ukrainian75−40%−44%−1%

G20 members

PlaceRead fromNow90 days1 year3 yearsThree years
AustraliaGoogle76+5%−19%−29%
BrazilGoogle + Wikipedia in Portuguese111+39%+12%+11%
CanadaGoogle81+6%−18%−18%
ChinaGoogle79−63%+32%−11%
FranceGoogle + Wikipedia in French80−8%−12%−24%
GermanyGoogle + Wikipedia in German68−11%−14%−22%
IndiaGoogle + Wikipedia in Bengali203+206%+218%+307%
IndonesiaGoogle + Wikipedia in Indonesian94+23%−23%+18%
ItalyGoogle + Wikipedia in Italian64−13%−27%−44%
JapanGoogle + Wikipedia in Japanese95−26%−19%−12%
South KoreaGoogle + Wikipedia in Korean108−9%−11%+20%
MexicoGoogle123−14%+30%+84%
RussiaWikipedia in Russian117+4%+21%+35%
Saudi ArabiaGoogle97+3%−6%+17%
South AfricaGoogle79−12%−14%−2%
TürkiyeGoogle + Wikipedia in Turkish78−7%−15%−41%
United KingdomGoogle84+3%−22%−17%
United StatesGoogle + Wikipedia in English77+3%−16%−10%

Share of attention by region

GINC Share of Attention: this trend's share of all the public attention the trends in the list draw, worldwide and in each region, week by week (a 4-week average). Each place is read from the Wikipedia languages mostly read there and Google searching in its countries; where a place's language is shared with others, as English is, Google stands alone.

PlaceShare, last 13 weeksRank thereA year earlierRead from
World0.83%31 of 2500.85%Wikipedia reading in all 28 languages, and Google searching worldwide
Asia Pacific0.51%56 of 2500.51%Wikipedia reading in the region's own languages, not English; Google searching in 15 countries, not China
Europe0.45%53 of 2500.60%German, French, Italian, Polish, Dutch and Swedish reading; Google searching in 10 countries, the UK among them
Africa0.35%62 of 2500.34%Google searching in 7 countries; Afrikaans and Swahili reading reaches too few trends to count
South America1.2%20 of 2501.4%Spanish and Portuguese reading, Spanish also read in Spain; Google searching in 5 countries
North America0.72%32 of 2490.52%Google searching in the United States, Canada and Mexico; English reading cannot be split by country
Oceania0.55%44 of 2490.58%Google searching in Australia and New Zealand; English reading cannot be split by country
United States1.00%27 of 2490.63%Google searching; English reading cannot be split by country
United Kingdom0.40%52 of 2490.45%Google searching; English reading cannot be split by country
India0.39%47 of 2490.12%Google searching; Hindi, Bengali and Tamil reading reaches too few trends to count, and English cannot be split by country
China···Wikipedia and Google are blocked in China; no open source counts reading there
Russia0.34%84 of 2030.28%Russian reading, which is also done across the former Soviet states; Google's figures for Russia cannot be bought
Japan0.32%100 of 2500.39%Japanese reading and Google searching
Germany0.46%58 of 2500.53%German reading and Google searching
France0.50%49 of 2500.64%French reading, also done in Africa and Canada, and Google searching
Italy0.53%43 of 2500.83%Italian reading and Google searching
South Korea0.87%30 of 2501.0%Korean reading and Google searching
Indonesia0.27%69 of 2500.20%Google searching; Indonesian reading reaches too few trends to count
Brazil1.9%10 of 2502.0%Portuguese reading and Google searching
Türkiye0.03%35 of 2500.02%Google searching; Turkish reading reaches too few trends to count

Relation to each scenario

A trend relates to a scenario when it changes how likely the scenario is, how hard it lands, or is itself sharply changed by it. Each score is the median of three scores given separately by the members of the model panel.

RelationScenarioFamily
5 · Very highA disputed transfer of power breaks effective government S05Geopolitical and security
4 · HighHybrid coercion ends in an infrastructure blackout S04Geopolitical and security
4 · HighA novel respiratory pathogen exceeds health surge capacity S10Health
3 · ModerateA public service platform reaches inclusive operation S18 ↗Technology and infrastructure
3 · ModerateA live outbreak proves rapid distributed pandemic defence S20 ↗Health
2 · LowA major disaster disables the national economic core S07Energy, climate and resources
1 · Very lowA regional war closes a globally important sea route S03Geopolitical and security
1 · Very lowTwo breadbasket failures trigger a food availability crisis S06Energy, climate and resources
1 · Very lowA cryptographic breakthrough invalidates digital trust S09Technology and infrastructure
1 · Very lowA verified Middle East settlement restores access S14 ↗Geopolitical and security
1 · Very lowAffordable preventive treatments reduce chronic illness S19 ↗Health
0 · Not relatedCritical trade divides into rival blocs S01Economic and trade
0 · Not relatedA global funding seizure reaches sovereign balance sheets S02Economic and trade
0 · Not relatedAn AI deployment step causes abrupt labour displacement S08Technology and infrastructure
0 · Not relatedA creditor agreement releases fiscal capacity S11 ↗Economic and trade
0 · Not relatedA cross-regional market access compact redirects investment S12 ↗Economic and trade
0 · Not relatedA great-power agreement lowers economic security barriers S13 ↗Geopolitical and security
0 · Not relatedCheap firm clean power becomes available at scale S15 ↗Energy, climate and resources
0 · Not relatedA validated farming package raises water-efficient output S16 ↗Energy, climate and resources
0 · Not relatedAI-directed research produces a reproducible discovery step S17 ↗Technology and infrastructure

Similarity = 0.3 × shared tags (Jaccard) + 0.3 × likeness of scenario profiles (cosine) + 0.3 × likeness of names and descriptions (TF-IDF cosine) + 0.1 if in the same capability domain, cut into seven levels at 0.12, 0.22, 0.33, 0.45, 0.58, 0.72. Shown at Moderate and above.

SimilarityTrendThemeRank
4 · HighDeclining institutional trustInformation & trust7
4 · HighPublic communication in crisisInformation & trust10
4 · HighDecline of independent journalismInformation & trust29
4 · HighConspiracy movements & science denialInformation & trust68
4 · HighSynthetic media & deepfakesInformation & trust87
4 · HighForeign information manipulationInformation & trust91
4 · HighPlatform power over public discourseInformation & trust99
4 · HighMedia provenance & authenticationInformation & trust100
4 · HighCensorship & surveillanceInformation & trust103
4 · HighAI-mediated information accessInformation & trust118
3 · ModerateExecutive overreach & emergency powersState capacity & governance4
3 · ModerateErosion of rights & civic freedomsState capacity & governance14
3 · ModerateElection integrity & interferenceInformation & trust57
3 · ModerateOpen-source intelligence & transparencyInformation & trust79
3 · ModerateReligious & identity nationalismInformation & trust122
3 · ModerateDiaspora politics & transnational repressionInformation & trust176
3 · ModerateDigital language representation gapsInformation & trust193
3 · ModerateOnline harms & safetyInformation & trust202