Amid global debates about press freedom, free speech and freedom on the Internet, a new Pew Research Centre report shows there is a disconnect between how people rate the importance of these freedoms and how free they actually feel to express themselves.
Generally, people around the world believe it is at least somewhat important that the media can report the news, that people can say what they want, and that people can use the Internet without state or government censorship.
But there is more regional variation among the shares who see these freedoms as very important.
Key findings on views of the importance of these freedoms and perceptions of access across 35 countries surveyed include:
Freedom of the press
A median of 61% say having freedom of the press in their country is very important. But only 28% say the media are completely free to report the news in their country.
Since 2015, the share of adults saying freedom of the press is very important has increased in Australia, Canada, France, Indonesia, Japan, Italy, Turkey and the United Kingdom. The jump in Turkey is especially notable, from 45% in 2015 to 71% in 2024. But in Brazil, Kenya, Nigeria, Peru and South Africa, the share who see freedom of the press as very important has declined since 2015.
Freedom of speech
A median of 59% say having freedom of speech in their country is very important, while 31% say speech is completely free where they live.
Freedom on the Internet
A median of 55% say the ability to use the Internet freely is very important, while 50% say they are completely free to use the Internet in their country.
One way to evaluate how people around the world feel about free speech, free press, and Internet use without state or government censorship is to compare views of how important these freedoms are with perceptions of freedom in each country, a metric we call “freedom gaps.”
The term “press freedom gap” describes the difference between the share of people who say free media without censorship are important to have in their country and the share who say media in their country are actually free to report the news. Similarly, we use “speech freedom gap” and “Internet freedom gap” in reference to questions on those topics.
In many of the 35 countries surveyed, we see gaps in views of media freedom, freedom of speech and freedom on the Internet.
There are significant gaps on press freedom in 30 of 35 countries surveyed. In almost all of these cases, the gaps occur because larger shares of people say freedom of the press is important than say media in their country are actually free.
The largest press freedom gap is in Chile, and other large gaps can also be found in Argentina, Colombia, Greece, Hungary, Mexico, Peru, Singapore, South Korea and Turkey.
There are no significant press freedom gaps in Bangladesh, Ghana, Israel, the Philippines and South Africa. In India and Kenya, the gaps are reversed, meaning larger shares in these countries say they have press freedom than say it is important to have a free press.
Similarly, there are significant speech freedom gaps in 31 countries. Almost all of these are due to larger shares saying free speech is important than saying people in their country are actually free to say what they want.
The largest speech freedom gap is in Turkey. There are other large gaps around the world, particularly in the Latin American countries surveyed.
In India, a slightly larger share say they have free speech than think free speech is important, resulting in a reverse gap. And publics in Ghana, Israel, Kenya and South Africa do not feel differently about the importance of free speech and their experiences with free speech.
When it comes to freedom on the Internet, there are reverse gaps in many countries, where more people say they can use the Internet freely than say freedom on the Internet is important.
In addition, majorities in over half the nations surveyed say made-up news and information is a very big problem in their country.
A median of more than eight-in-ten adults across 35 countries say fabricated news is a big problem in their country, including 59% who see it as a very big problem.
In Singapore, only 19% say made-up news and information is a very big problem – the smallest share of all the countries surveyed. Nearly half of Singaporeans (49%) say fabricated news is a small problem or not a problem at all.
Satisfaction with democracy is tied to levels of concern about fabricated news. In 22 of 35 countries surveyed, people who see made-up news and information as a very big problem are less likely to say they are very or somewhat satisfied with the way their democracy is working.