More than Half of US Adults Don't Trust News on Social Platforms

Social media platforms have evolved beyond connecting with others. Now, users rely on these platforms to stay up to date on current events.

According to a recent Pew Research Center survey, roughly 53 percent of US adults get news from social media “sometimes” or “often.”

Among the social platforms that serve as a regular news source, Facebook is the most popular. The report revealed that 36 percent of social media users rely on Facebook for information.

YouTube is the second most popular news source among social media sites, with 23 percent getting information there. Meanwhile, only about 15 percent of US adults use Twitter as a news source.

Other news sources include Instagram (11 percent), Reddit (6 percent), Snapchat (4 percent), TikTok (3 percent), and WhatsApp ( 4 percent).

However, the report noted that these low-percentage sites are more prominent news sources than their numbers suggest.

The Pew Research Center survey report reads:

“These lower percentages for news use are in some cases related to the fact that fewer Americans report using them at all, compared with the shares who use Facebook and YouTube. “

Indeed, several Americans rely on social media sites for information. However, many still see the news on these platforms as inaccurate.

Distrusting News from Social Platforms

According to the Pew Research Center, several people who get news on social media still question its accuracy.

Roughly six in ten people who “rarely” get news on social media expect it to be accurate. On the other hand, only 39 percent expect to get accurate information from social media platforms.

Breaking down the numbers, only 30 percent of the respondents say social media helps them understand current events. Meanwhile, another 23 percent said it leaves them more confused.

As Pew Research pointed out, the survey result is not a new sentiment. That’s because previous studies from 2018 and 2019 reflect similar responses.

The report reads:

“And though there has been increasing discussion of the information on social media, including congressional hearings in 2019 and in 2020, this is not a new sentiment among social media news users…”

For the survey, Pew Research Center considered over 9,000 Americans within a broad age group and education level.

See the full report here.