Social Media for News!
Social media platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook provide news on phones for on the go people.
London, Jun 16 (EFE).-
Social media and video-sharing platforms have surpassed television, news websites and apps as the world’s leading source of news for the first time, according to a report released Tuesday by the Reuters Institute.
The 2026 Digital News Report found that 30 percent of respondents across 48 markets now rely primarily on social and video platforms for news, up from 22 percent five years ago.
The shift reflects a broader transformation in how audiences, particularly younger people, consume information online.
“For the first time, social media and video networks are, on average across the markets covered, more popular than both TV and owned news websites and apps as sources of news,” Jim Egan, the report’s lead author said.
The study, based on a survey of nearly 100,000 digital news users worldwide, also found trust in news has fallen to 37 percent, the lowest level recorded since the Reuters Institute began tracking the measure in 2015. The sharpest declines were reported in the Philippines, Ireland, Thailand, Peru and Poland.
Video has become the dominant news format across much of the world. Some 77 percent of respondents said they watch news videos each week on platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook.
News video consumption now exceeds television news viewing in most markets surveyed, except Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands.
The report also highlighted widening generational differences in news habits. More than half of people aged 18 to 24 said they have never regularly read a newspaper, while use of television news and media-owned websites and apps has declined across all age groups except those over 55.
At the same time, digital creators are playing a growing role in the news ecosystem. About 27 percent of respondents said they get at least some news from influencers or content creators, although only three percent rely on them exclusively.
Concerns among news consumers about misinformation remain high, yet audiences increasingly turn to social platforms for information.
Use of artificial intelligence chatbots for news also continues to grow, reaching 10 percent of respondents, compared with seven percent a year earlier. Adoption rises to 16 percent among people under 35, though only 20 percent said they trust chatbot-generated answers.
About 18 percent of respondents said they pay for online news, a figure that has remained unchanged. EFE
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