We live in an era of accelerated technological and social change, but, above all, of erosion of trust. It is conditioned by the dizzying speed of social change.

The advent of hyper-connected societies, endowed with social networks, smartphones and broadband connections is changing trust, previously based on status and proximity.

Today, consumers lose trust in their brands; voters, in their politicians; audiences, in the media; employees, in their bosses and companies, and so on. Trust is brittle: it is hard to acquire but quickly lost. To use a metaphor, it rises slowly, as when climbing a high mountain, but is lost quickly, as when leave is taken in an elevator.

Edelman's 2023 barometer abounded in the same issues under the significant degree scroll of "Breaking Ground in a Polarized World."

Trust in the media has been particularly affected. Globally, there is an 11-point gap between trust in business (62%) and trust in governments (51%), and a 12-point gap with the media (50%). The media have their share of responsibility in this picture. In a status of financial panic in the sector, media companies, more in need of audience, appeal to partisanship or fall into clickbait. They promote information that encourages division, thinking that they will achieve the desired increase in audiences, but quality and interesting contents are scarce.

A dedicated Eurobarometer survey , published by the European Parliament on November 17, analyzes media usage habits, including the trustworthiness of content. These are valuable data in a polarized context when there are concerns about the spread of fake news.

Sixty-eight percent of respondents recall having recently obtained news about the European Union from the press, Internet, television or radio, with notable variations between Member States, ranging from 49% in France to 87% in Croatia and Romania.

The percentage of respondents who have recently read, seen or heard something about the EU increases slightly with age; men (76%) are more likely than women (60%) to respond in this way, as are respondents with higher levels educational. For 71 % of respondents, television remains one of the most used means of accessing news in the last week, followed (distantly) by the online press (42 %). Radio and social media platforms (both with 37 %) share the third position, followed by print media (21 %).

Compared to the 2022 Parliamentary Media and Newssurvey , there is an eleven percentage point increase in the overall proportion of respondents using social media platforms to access news; smaller increases are seen in the use of messaging apps (+5 points), video platforms (+4) or podcasts (+2).

The increase in the use of these media is observed across all age groups and in most Member States. Citizens increasingly view online news platforms and social media channels, including influencers, as trustworthy sources.

What they see, hear and read in various media influences citizens' perceptions of the European Union and the Parliament. The Eurobarometer's survey presents an in-depth look at citizens' media use and habits, analyzing both traditional and online media.

These are valuable results for further thinking about media, trust and disinformation in the European Union, with only a few months left before the European elections (June 6-9) and in line with research published by prestigious U.S. sources such as Pew Research.

In the United States, news consumption has risen in three years from 22% to 43% of adults using TikTok and is now on a par with Facebook users. In the case of Instagram, news consumption has risen from 28% to 34% of its users since 2020.

Among young Americans, social media is as trustworthy as traditional national media. From agreement with another recent Pew study, 50% of those under 30 trust it (the figure is up six points since 2016), when the average among adults is just 33%.

The advance of issue of people who get information on the networks seems to be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it broadens the audiences that become familiar with information content. But on the other hand, will TikTok be a good way to understand the big issues affecting our common home? With networks, we have a problem: everyone is a journalist, but there is a lack of editors.

The experience of Twitter (today X) has shown us to what extent networks contribute to "echo chambers" that deepen polarization. It is necessary for the media literacy of citizens to go up several steps.