Business

More U.S. Adults Get Their News From TikTok—As Facebook And X Slide

November 16, 2023

I am a reporter on the breaking news team based in New York City.

Updated Nov 15, 2023, 04:37pm EST

Topline

A growing number of U.S. adults regularly get their news from TikTok, with almost a third of adults between 18 and 29 relying on the video-sharing platform, according to a survey from the Pew Research Center—even as fewer people get news from social media sites like X and Facebook.

regularly get news on the platform, up 10 points from a year ago. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

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Key Facts

Between 2020 and 2023, the percentage of U.S. adults who reported regularly getting their news from TikTok has increased four-fold from 3% to 14%, according to Pew Research, which surveyed 8,842 adults in late September and early October.

Fifteen percent of U.S. adults between the ages of 30 and 49 reported regularly getting news from the platform, while 7% of U.S. adults between 50 and 64 years old and 3% of adults over 65 said they regularly get their news from TikTok, the survey showed.

Overall, 43% of TikTok users said they regularly get news on the platform—10 points more users than a year ago, and double the percentage of users who said the same in 2020, according to Pew.

Users of X and Facebook are more likely to regularly get their news from those sites than users of TikTok, but the number of users who rely on them for news has declined since 2020, falling from 54% in 2020 to 43% this year for Facebook and 59% to 53% for X, according to Pew.

Key Background

TikTok has surged in popularity, especially among teenagers and young adults. While the number of U.S. adults using TikTok for news is growing, the platform—and many of its peers—have constantly been criticized for the spread of misinformation. TikTok has faced scrutiny for false claims about the coronavirus, information about the 2020 presidential election, and most recently, disinformation and graphic content about the war between Israel and Hamas. The platform has also been criticized for concerns about its Beijing-based owner ByteDance. In July, another survey from Pew Research Center found that around 59% of U.S. adults viewed TikTok as a threat to national security. TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew testified before the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee in March about how the company deals with user privacy and data security, and addressed fears that the Chinese government could access the app, which has been a major concern for the U.S. and other governments. Earlier this month, Forbes reported that Chinese government officials had direct access to TikTok’s internal workplace collaboration platform on a ByteDance product called Feishu, which holds some of the company’s most important information. TikTok has insisted the Chinese government does not have access to U.S. user data.