The internet is now a central part of Europeans' daily lives. People use the web to maintain personal relationships, do their shopping, make financial decisions, access education and follow religious content.

However, this also leads to growing concern about everything that is not going well as so-called “social” technologies advance.

69% of the more than 26,000 respondents in the 27 countries of the European Union expressed “high concern” about disinformation, that is, misleading or false information.

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Seven out of ten also said they were very concerned about hate speech (68%), fake content created by artificial intelligence (68%), the protection of their personal data on the internet (68%) and threats to their freedom of expression (67%).

Differences between regions in Europe

Of all the countries, Spain is the most concerned about disinformation or fake news (85%), followed by Cyprus (82%) and Italy (80%), with almost the entire population fearing being deceived or manipulated by information that appears to be true but is not.

In France (72%) and Croatia (68%), hate speech (both online and offline) is seen as the main concern, although in Italy, Spain, Poland and Portugal, concern is also very high.

The growing proliferation of false content on social media through artificial intelligence tools (especially deepfake videos, which are often difficult to distinguish from real images) is the number one concern for citizens in the Netherlands and Finland (73%), Sweden, Germany, Belgium, Denmark, and especially Cyprus (84%), Malta and Luxembourg (79%).

Poor protection of personal data is a greater concern in Southern and Eastern Europe (above 60%), and somewhat lower in Northern and Central Europe. According to the survey, how their private data is used on the internet is what most concerns citizens in Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Poland, and Greece.

Spain (85%), Italy (84%), and Portugal (70%) are where people fear most for their freedom of expression, but in Denmark, concern is rather low (41%).

It is noteworthy that social polarisation (extremism and lack of agreement) is identified as the main problem only in Slovakia (68%), although a third of countries also show high levels of concern.

While 1 in 2 Europeans are concerned about the lack of media independence, it is once again the Italians, Greeks and Spaniards who are most preoccupied about this issue. In contrast, few Danes (24%), Swedes (32%) or Finns (33%) identify the independence of the media as a problem in their countries.

More pessimism in Southern Europe

On the whole, the data shows that the greatest pessimism regarding the growing technological environment of online communications is found in Mediterranean countries, followed by Eastern European countries.

In the northern European Union countries in particular, there seems to be less fear of the impact of harmful practices on the internet on people.

The Eurobarometer, which reflects the opinions of Europeans in autumn 2025, also asked about categories such as feelings of attachment to the EU, fears about war and terrorism, and the economy. You can view it here.