Americans are growing tired of the censorship regime that flourished under the banner of “combating misinformation,” according to a new Pew Research poll released this week.
The survey shows a clear shift in public opinion away from supporting government and tech company efforts to suppress so-called false information—even when it means allowing more speech that some might consider inaccurate.
Back in 2023, 55 percent of Americans said the U.S. government should restrict false information online, even if it limited free speech rights. At the same time, 65 percent believed tech platforms should restrict “fake news” on their platforms. But the tide is turning.
As of 2025, just 51 percent now say the government should play a role in policing online information—a 4-point drop. Meanwhile, support for tech censorship dropped to 60 percent, a 5-point decline in just two years.
The shift is most dramatic among Democrats. In 2023, 70 percent of Democrats supported government efforts to limit false information. Today, that number has plunged to 58 percent. Among Republicans, just 43 percent support government involvement in restricting speech.
The growing skepticism comes as President Donald Trump’s administration takes decisive steps to dismantle what it calls the “censorship-industrial complex.”
Last week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the permanent shutdown of the Global Engagement Center (GEC), a little-known State Department agency that played a key role in shaping online narratives and pressuring platforms to silence dissenting views.
“Over the last decade, Americans have been slandered, fired, charged, and even jailed for simply voicing their opinions,” Rubio wrote. “That ends today.”
Rubio continued, “I am announcing the closure of the @StateDept’s Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference, formerly the Global Engagement Center (GEC), which cost taxpayers more than $50 million per year and actively silenced and censored the voices of Americans they were supposed to be serving.”
The GEC, established under the Obama administration and expanded during the Trump-Biden transition, came under fire for funding and coordinating with private groups that flagged online content—often conservative speech—for removal.
Its involvement in the “Election Integrity Partnership” during the 2020 election cycle linked the agency directly to censorship efforts targeting U.S. citizens, media outlets, and political candidates under the guise of national security and fighting misinformation.
That legacy has now become politically toxic. Americans increasingly see the censorship push as more about political control than public safety.
The Pew poll’s timing reflects that backlash. With public faith in the government and tech companies already eroding, the revelation of federal coordination with censorship groups has only intensified distrust. The shift in polling suggests that the appetite for silencing “false” information is drying up—especially as Americans recognize the political biases that shaped enforcement.
While some Democrats continue to defend censorship as a necessary tool, even they are backing off. The 12-point drop among Democrats who support government intervention is a clear sign that the political ground is shifting.
The poll’s findings also mirror growing Republican support for restoring First Amendment protections. Since retaking office, Trump has made free speech a central pillar of his administration’s agenda.
The public seems to be responding.
For years, critics warned that empowering the government and unelected tech executives to decide what’s “true” would be a dangerous path. Now, with the data confirming what many conservatives long suspected, the political tide is turning—and the censorship machine is crumbling.
The message from the American people is getting louder: Let us speak freely. Let us decide. And stop calling it misinformation every time we disagree.
