TikTok is the fastest growing source of news for adults in the UK, survey finds

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

TikTok is the fastest growing news source in the UK, according to a survey. The app is used by 7 percent of UK adults as a news source compared to 1 percent in 2020.

The survey shows how TikTok is quickly becoming a go-to source for information as well as entertainment. 40 percent of Gen Z, individuals born 1997 to 2012 in the US, use either TikTok orInstagram for everyday searches to find things like where to eat, instead of previous favorites like Google Search and Maps, according to a recent study.

TikTok is only the sixth most popular destination among those aged 16 to 24 in the UK, where it is used by 27 percent of the population. The website/app of the British Broadcasting Corporation is behind the others.

The skew towards social media news is higher among young people. The three most popular digital news sources for this group are: Talking to family and watching tv are the two most important things for teens.

Yih- Choung Teh, Ofcom's group director for strategy and research, said in a press statement that teenagers nowadays prefer to keep up-to-date with their social feeds. Youngsters find news on social media less reliable, but they rate these services more highly for serving up a range of opinions on the day's news.

This may be a concern for some given that TikTok is a source of misinformation. According to recent analysis of news related to the Ukraine-Russia war, TikTok was a great place to spread false narratives. Around two-thirds of users of social media sites say they don't trust them for news, with Ofcom noting that social media platforms continue to score worse than rival news sources on attributes like "trust."