Survey: More Americans Regularly Getting News on TikTok

Improve the News Foundation -

Facts

  • A new Pew Research analysis published on Tuesday shows that the share of adult Americans who regularly use TikTok for news has grown from 3% to 17% over the past four years.[1]
  • More than half of TikTok users get their news from the platform, up from 22% in 2020, meaning that TikTok has jumped from sixth to third in the rankings of platforms with the highest percentage of users who use them to source news — behind only X (Twitter) and TruthSocial.[1]
  • The survey completed last month also found that adults under 30 stand out as the age group most likely to use TikTok as a news source in the US, with 39% of the respondents in this subset doing so — up from 32% last year and 9% in 2020.[2][3]
  • News on TikTok — a platform known for its viral dance videos which has increasingly come to be used as a search engine — scarcely comes from mainstream outlets, as the app's powerful algorithm rarely recommends their accounts.[4][5]
  • Earlier this week, a three-judge US panel heard arguments from TikTok, its owner ByteDance, and a group of creators, claiming that the divestment-or-ban bill — set to take effect on Jan. 19 — violates users' rights to free speech.[6][7][8]
  • American support for a TikTok ban has fallen from 50% to 32% over the past 18 months, with the share of those who oppose a ban now at 28%, up from 22% in March 2022.[3][8]

Sources: [1]Pew Research Center, [2]The Hill, [3]Bloomberg, [4]Business Insider, [5]New York Times, [6]Washington Post, [7]Verge and [8]Chinadaily.com.cn.

Narratives

  • Narrative A, as provided by Forbes. TikTok continues to gain prominence as a news source every year, particularly among young adults — a concerning phenomenon considering the platform has no safeguards to stop the spread of false information, nor uphold ethical journalism. Humankind is sleepwalking into a new era of disinformation.
  • Narrative B, as provided by Guardian. News consumption has naturally evolved from printed papers to radio, television, and now social media to meet audience demand. Given TikTok's popularity, it's only natural that its users turn to it for news. The app indeed has issues, but such teething problems by no means indicate that journalism or its values are in decline.

Predictions