54.1% say disclosure is 'absolutely necessary'
Negative reactions dominate; AI ads draw backlash
Positive responses — 'creative,' 'interesting' — hover around 10%
As AI-generated content and advertising flood social media platforms, users are pushing back — reporting strong feelings of artificiality and deception, according to a new survey. More than 8 in 10 social media users said platforms should clearly label content made with AI.
The findings come from the Social Media Trend Report 2026, released Saturday by Opensurvey, a research technology company. The survey of 900 users across YouTube, Instagram and TikTok found that 85.6 percent of respondents said AI-generated content on social media should be labeled as such.
More than half — 54.1 percent — said such disclosure was "absolutely necessary."
The demand for labeling was consistently high across all platforms. YouTube users showed the strongest support, with 88.0 percent calling for AI labels, followed by Instagram at 85.3 percent and TikTok at 83.3 percent.
The push for disclosure appears rooted in widespread discomfort with AI content. When asked how they feel upon encountering AI-generated posts on social media, nearly half of respondents — 49.9 percent — said the content feels "artificial or awkward."
Negative reactions dominated across the board. Another 39.0 percent said they doubt whether the information is accurate, 33.8 percent said they feel deceived when AI use is not disclosed, and 23.7 percent said they struggle to tell whether the people, products or scenes depicted are real.
Positive assessments were far less common. Only 11.4 percent described AI content as "creative," 10.4 percent found it "interesting," and 9.6 percent called it "new" — all hovering around the 10 percent mark.
Aversion to AI advertising was equally pronounced. When respondents were asked to identify reasons a particular ad left a negative impression, "felt exaggerated" topped the list at 20.8 percent, followed by "repeated exposure" at 18.7 percent. "Felt like it was made by AI" came in third at 13.2 percent.
Users are also calling for more than a simple AI label — they want detailed disclosures about how the technology was used.
Asked what information would reduce their discomfort with AI-generated ads and review content, respondents cited a range of needs beyond "clear labeling of AI use" (54.7 percent): "specific disclosure of which parts used AI" (37.8 percent), "indication of whether the content is an advertisement or sponsored" (33.7 percent), "notice of dramatization or exaggeration that differs from reality" (32.6 percent), "separate provision of actual product photos and information" (27.9 percent), and "disclosure of information sources and supporting evidence" (26.3 percent).
An Opensurvey official said users "are deeply fatigued by the potential for information distortion and deception lurking behind the convenience that AI technology offers," adding that "if platforms and creators do not put in place self-regulatory mechanisms that transparently disclose whether and to what extent AI was used, user disengagement and distrust will only accelerate."
yuni@heraldcorp.com
