TikTok Growing As A Source For Users’ News Diets
TikTok is growing as a primary source for users’ news diets, according to the results of a new study.
A survey conducted by Pew Research Center showed that 43% of TikTok users regularly get their news on the app, compared to just 22% in 2020.
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The findings also showed that Americans are twice as likely to say that they prefer to get their news off of digital devices as they were from watching TV. Some 58% said that they preferred to get news from digital devices, versus 27% for TV. Far behind were radio, at 6%, and print, at 5%. Most also preferred to get news from news websites and apps, followed by search, social media and podcasts.
Among social media sites, Facebook still dominates for news consumption. According to the study, 30% of U.S. adults regularly get their news from the platform, followed by YouTube with 26%, Instagram with 16%, TikTok at 14% and X/Twitter at 12%.
The findings are based on a survey of 8.842 adults, conducted from Sept. 25 to Oct. 1.
While TikTok users are increasingly using the app to get news, the numbers have fallen for other platforms. A smaller percentage of X/Twitter and Facebook users are turning to those apps for news content, according to the study.
In recent weeks, TikTok has defended its efforts against antisemitism, amid criticism that anti-Jewish sentiments has proliferated after Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel on Oct. 7. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) accused the platform of being “a tool China uses to spread propaganda to Americans” and that “now it’s being used to downplay Hamas terrorism.” TikTok is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance.
In a blog post earlier this month, TikTok said, “Over the last few days, there has been unsound analysis of TikTok hashtag data around the conflict, causing some commentators to falsely insinuate TikTok is pushing pro-Palestine content over pro-Israel content to U.S. users. That’s simply false.”
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