Edelman’s latest “Trust Barometer” report, shared exclusively with Semafor, measured a 3 percentage point global drop in users’ trust in technology companies going into 2026, compared to the previous year. Researchers say trust in systems drives adoption, while distrust serves as a barrier to the systems’ development.
China is among the few countries where respondents indicated more trust in tech year over year — a symptom of a country in which information is tightly controlled and the free press is limited — while the US hovers around 30 percentage points lower. The difference is even starker when measuring trust in AI companies specifically.
Trust fell globally across nearly every institution, including education, health care, and financial services. The only business category that saw a year-over-year increase, unexpectedly, is social media, though it still holds the lowest overall trust score.