Trend · rank 103 of 250

Censorship & surveillance

AI is making the monitoring, filtering and scoring of what people say and see cheaper and more complete for states and firms, narrowing information access and lowering the cost of selective censorship.

Information & InfluenceInformation & trustinformationpoliticsdata governanceai

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

Sensitivity and network position

Rank
103of 250
Sensitivity
6.7rank 183
Breadth
0of 20 scenarios High or above
PageRank
46.3rank 59
Eigenvector
36.1
Betweenness
0.7
Links
17trends at Moderate similarity or above
Composite
22.7

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.

Now
108
Over a year
+2%Steady
Over three years
+11%
Peak
15128 Sept 2025
Sources
Bothagreement 0.09
Coverage
17languages · 58 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 (17 of 28). Share is of all the readers counted.

LanguageShareNowOver a yearThree years
English51%160+41%
Chinese16%107+4%
Persian8%71+1%
Japanese5%99−3%
Russian5%91−27%
Spanish4%122+5%
French3%89−17%
Portuguese1%115−6%
Italian1%94+4%
Polish1%107−6%
German1%153+89%
Arabic1%206+174%
Dutch1%90−13%
Turkish1%137+24%
Korean1%157+70%
Hebrew1%127+16%
Vietnamese0%126+27%

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.

Singapore

United States

United Kingdom

Australia

China

Uganda

New Zealand

Canada

South Korea

United Arab Emirates

Ireland

Philippines

100

76

66

63

62

59

58

56

53

44

43

40

The 12 highest of 58 nations with a reading.

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 English130+33%+20%+33%
EuropeGoogle in 8 countries + Wikipedia in German, French, Italian, Polish, Dutch91+6%−15%−14%
Indo-PacificGoogle in 7 countries + Wikipedia in Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese108+10%−2%+11%
South AsiaGoogle in 1 country95+3%+8%+11%
Gulf and Middle EastGoogle in 3 countries + Wikipedia in Persian, Arabic, Turkish, Hebrew95−6%−7%−14%
AfricaGoogle in 1 country124−28%−3%+142%
Latin America and CaribbeanGoogle in 6 countries + Wikipedia in Spanish, Portuguese103+16%−10%+6%
Russia and EurasiaGoogle in 2 countries + Wikipedia in Russian79−8%−18%−21%

G20 members

PlaceRead fromNow90 days1 year3 yearsThree years
ArgentinaGoogle83+23%−28%−15%
AustraliaGoogle125+42%+23%+15%
BrazilGoogle + Wikipedia in Portuguese99+11%−15%+1%
CanadaGoogle85+2%−16%−16%
FranceGoogle + Wikipedia in French71+25%−35%−5%
GermanyGoogle + Wikipedia in German117+13%+21%+3%
IndiaGoogle95+3%+8%+11%
ItalyGoogle + Wikipedia in Italian93+6%−12%−11%
JapanGoogle + Wikipedia in Japanese113+11%+10%+16%
South KoreaGoogle + Wikipedia in Korean119+19%−7%+53%
MexicoGoogle87+38%−28%−33%
RussiaWikipedia in Russian91−27%−27%+25%
South AfricaGoogle124−28%−3%+142%
TürkiyeGoogle + Wikipedia in Turkish105+9%−7%+14%
United KingdomGoogle88−13%−35%−30%
United StatesGoogle + Wikipedia in English133+36%+22%+34%

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
3 · ModerateA disputed transfer of power breaks effective government S05Geopolitical and security
2 · LowHybrid coercion ends in an infrastructure blackout S04Geopolitical and security
2 · LowA public service platform reaches inclusive operation S18 ↗Technology and infrastructure
1 · Very lowA cryptographic breakthrough invalidates digital trust S09Technology and infrastructure
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 relatedA regional war closes a globally important sea route S03Geopolitical and security
0 · Not relatedTwo breadbasket failures trigger a food availability crisis S06Energy, climate and resources
0 · Not relatedA major disaster disables the national economic core S07Energy, climate and resources
0 · Not relatedAn AI deployment step causes abrupt labour displacement S08Technology and infrastructure
0 · Not relatedA novel respiratory pathogen exceeds health surge capacity S10Health
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 relatedA verified Middle East settlement restores access S14 ↗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
0 · Not relatedAffordable preventive treatments reduce chronic illness S19 ↗Health
0 · Not relatedA live outbreak proves rapid distributed pandemic defence S20 ↗Health

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
5 · Very highMedia provenance & authenticationInformation & trust100
4 · HighDecline of independent journalismInformation & trust29
4 · HighMisinformation & disinformationInformation & trust30
4 · HighElection integrity & interferenceInformation & trust57
4 · HighSynthetic media & deepfakesInformation & trust87
4 · HighForeign information manipulationInformation & trust91
4 · HighPlatform power over public discourseInformation & trust99
4 · HighAI-mediated information accessInformation & trust118
3 · ModerateDeclining institutional trustInformation & trust7
3 · ModeratePublic communication in crisisInformation & trust10
3 · ModerateErosion of rights & civic freedomsState capacity & governance14
3 · ModerateConspiracy movements & science denialInformation & trust68
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