Ofcom research shows TikTok is currently the most popular single source of news for teens in the UK.
The media watchdog found that 28 percent of 12- to 15-year-olds use the video-sharing app to keep up with current events, more than any other platform.
youtube and Instagram According to the UK news consumption report for 2022/23 released by the regulator, 25% of people in this age group use both methods, which is tied for second place.
As the Internet increasingly replaces traditional print media as the public’s source of news.
Some 68% of UK adults now use online sources for news, compared to just 26% who use print newspapers. Ofcom The study found.
However, TV remains the most popular platform, with 70% of adults tuning in to stay informed about current events – a figure that rises to 75% when on-demand content is included.
Nick Newman, a senior fellow at the Reuters Institute for Journalism, said that while Tik Tok Often seen as a platform for light-hearted topics rather than “serious” news, events such as coronavirus disease pandemic Changed view.
“COVID-19 is a huge change because people are staying at home, people are talking about COVID-19 on TikTok, and people have some time,” he said.
“This is very serious news on TikTok.
“The passion and the celebrity news, that’s a big part of what’s going on with young people, but there’s also the serious news, which is a big shift more broadly.”
Another previous study also recently found that TiKTok As an increasingly popular news source among young people all around the world.
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Across all age groups, Facebook remains the most-used social media platform for getting news. However, Ofcom said this figure covered just 30% of adults last year, down from 35% in 2019, and is showing signs of declining.
In contrast, TikTok has seen a “significant” rise in popularity as a news source, with 10% of adults now using TikTok, up from just 1% in 2020.
Despite TikTok’s rise, 45% of 12- to 15-year-olds said they were not interested in the news, and nearly half said they found it “too boring.” Another 16 percent said they found it “too disturbing”.
The app has also come under increasing criticism and concern from Western governments in recent years over its alleged ties to the Chinese government, leading to the platform being banned from Prohibited for use on government devices Australia, Canada, European Union and United Kingdom.
ByteDance, the Chinese internet company that owns TikTok, has denied sharing data with Beijing officials.
In April, the company was fined £12.7m for breaches of data protection law, including using the personal data of children under 13 without parental consent.
Office of the Information Commissioner An estimated 1.4 million under-13s in the UK regularly use TikTok — despite its rules stating that you must be 13 to create an account.
TikTok ‘is not an independent company’
Ofcom’s research, which included interviews with more than 1,000 young people, also found that 23 per cent of 12- to 15-year-olds were most interested in news related to “sports or a sports celebrity”.
Another 15 percent said they were interested in learning about “music news or artists,” while 11 percent said they wanted to keep up to date with “celebrities or famous people.”
The report found that social media platforms are also among the top news outlets for 16- to 24-year-olds.
Instagram is the most popular single source of news, with 44% of users in this age group using it for this purpose, while 29% said they use TikTok to keep up to date on current events.
Just one in 10 say they don’t watch the news at all, compared to 5% of UK adults.