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First Coined In 2018 Data Pollution trend icon

Data Pollution

As we create more methods for quantifying the world around us, data are manipulated, contaminated, and sabotaged, making it harder to separate true insights from useless noise.

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The 2018 Non-Obvious Trend Report, where Data Pollution was first coined

First published in the 2018 Non-Obvious Trend Report →

Trend Longevity Rating

A Graded A in 2026 ·
an exceptional prediction that grew more true over time

How this trend held up

There is no doubt the flood of data is rising, and sorting through it to find what really matters is a serious problem that even smart AI has not been able to solve.

Every past trend prediction is re-reviewed and graded with a Trend Longevity Rating, measuring how much each originally curated trend still matters years later.

Where It Led

This trend evolved into a megatrend.

In 2020, Data Pollution was identified as one of the past trends that evolved into the megatrend Data Abundance: The growing ubiquity of data and the myriad ways it can be collected raise big questions about how to make it truly useful, who owns the data, and who should stand to profit from it.

Explore The Data Abundance Megatrend →

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