Filipinos trust the news less than ever, according to the Reuters Institute’s 2026 Digital News Report.
Only 28% of Filipinos said they trust the news most of the time in 2026, down from 38% in 2025. The 10-point decline is the steepest drop in news trust among all 48 markets surveyed in this year’s report.
The report also found that Filipinos are increasingly getting their news from digital platforms. Around 70% of respondents access news through social media and video networks each week, while television news use has fallen to 42%.
Facebook remains the country’s leading news platform, used by 79% of respondents, followed by YouTube at 45% and TikTok at 33%. Meanwhile, around two in three Filipinos also consume news from creators and influencers, whom many audiences find more relatable and easier to understand than traditional news organizations.
At the same time, more Filipinos are tuning out the news altogether. For the first time, a majority of respondents, or 51%, said they often or sometimes actively avoid the news. General interest in news has also declined significantly, falling from 69% in 2020 to 43% in 2026.
The report further found disparities in trust levels across socioeconomic groups. Trust in news was higher among high-income earners at 43% and university graduates at 32%, but lower among low-income respondents at 23% and those with lower educational attainment at 21%.
Despite low trust in AI-generated news, Filipinos are gradually incorporating artificial intelligence into how they consume information. Only 15% of respondents said they trust AI-generated news. Among those who use AI for news, 52% use it to summarize complex stories, while 48% use it to ask follow-up questions.
The report also found a divided audience when it comes to journalism preferences. Only 23% of respondents preferred news with no particular point of view, while 30% preferred news that shares their views, and another 30% preferred news that challenges them.
