WhatsApp, TikTok, X and content creators emerge as major news sources

Social media platforms like Facebook and YouTube were major sources of news among online users ten years ago. Now, there are others as well. YouTube is used for news by almost a third of global news consumers, WhatsApp by a fifth, followed by TikTok and X. For young people, video is by far the most important source of news, according to a report.
 

Individual creators are becoming important in the news ecosystem, globally. The proportion of people paying for news, in 20 rich countries, has remained at 17 per cent for the last three years. And, there is a rise in selective news avoidance – meaning sometimes or often people avoid consuming news. Those among others are the findings of the Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2024.
 

The Oxford-based Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (RISJ) has been home to this study since 2012. This year’s report is based on data from almost 100,000 individual survey respondents covering 47 markets.
 

“As rival technology companies compete to attract public attention, many are also focusing on encouraging a growing multitude of creators, influencers, and others. These voices are increasingly getting attention – sometimes even when it comes to news,” says Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, director RISJ, in his foreword to the report. There is a difference here though. The report finds an increasing focus on partisan commentators, influencers, and young news creators, especially on YouTube and TikTok. But on social networks such as Facebook and X, traditional news brands and journalists still play a prominent role.

Not surprisingly then the “locus of news video consumption is online platforms (72 per cent) rather than publisher websites (22 per cent), increasing the challenges around monetisation and connection,” says the report.

 

The worry about what is real and what is fake in online news has risen by 3 percentage points in the last year (See chart). The addition of AI (artificial intelligence) further complicates it. Most people are uncomfortable with the use of AI in hard news stories covering politics, wars, or business. But, they are alright with it being used to cover celebrities, sports, or entertainment or for transcription and translation. This comfort also varies with familiarity- people in the US are more comfortable with the idea of AI than those in Europe, it said.
 

The platform reset
 

For over two decades now, the internet and consequently online news have completely changed how we consume news, entertainment, and how we socialise, shop, or interact with the rest of humanity.
 

“Our data suggest we are now at the beginning of a technology shift presenting challenges for incumbent technology companies, the news industry, and for society. Platforms have been adjusting strategies in the light of Generative AI, and are also navigating changing consumer behaviour, as well as increased regulatory concerns about misinformation and other issues. Meta, in particular, has been trying to reduce the role of news across Facebook, Instagram, and Threads, and has restricted the algorithmic promotion of political content. The company has also been reducing support for the news industry, not renewing deals worth millions of dollars, and removing its news tab in a number of countries,” says the report.
 

In 12 developed markets, the proportion of people who turned to Facebook fell after its algorithm depriotised news somewhere in 2020. The accompanying chart shows the strong shift towards networks such as YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram.
 

“Publishers across the globe continue to struggle to convince much of the public that the news they offer is trustworthy and worth paying attention to (let alone paying for). Research documenting these challenges can make for uncomfortable reading but also provides necessary evidence to those who are willing to contemplate the need for change. As the Danish publisher Lea Korsgaard has put it, "People don’t miss journalism. But journalism miss people,” says Neilsen.
 

The complete report, which is available on the RISJ site, also offers short takes on the 47 countries covered. Data from India, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa are representative of younger English speakers and not the national population because it is not possible to reach other groups in a representative way using an online survey.