Controversial Chinese short video app TikTok has topped the list of British teen news outlets alongside Instagram and Youtube.
Young people are turning away from television news in favor of digital alternatives, according to a report from British broadcasting and telecommunications regulator Ofcom. The survey found that 29% of UK youth turn to Instagram for news, while 28% prefer TikTok or YouTube.
Between 2020 and 2022, TikTok saw the biggest growth of any news outlet in the UK, growing from 0.8 million adults in 2020 to 3.9 million adults in 2022, which is the same as using the Sky News website or app, according to the post editor. .
The huge growth is mainly due to the use of younger age groups, aged 16 to 24, who make up half of the news consumers on the platform. Using it as their main news source, TikTok users said they collect more news from “news organizations” (24%) than “people they follow” (44%). BBC, ITV and Sky News are launching news channels in the app.
Despite becoming one of the top news sources for teens, less than a third (30%) say they trust the news they find on TikTok.
“Young people today are less likely to buy the newspaper or focus on TV news, preferring to follow developments by surfing their social channels instead,” said Yee-Chung Tae, Director of Strategy and Research at Ofcom Group.
“While young people find the news on social media less credible, they value these services more because they offer a wide range of ideas about the current events of the day.”
Social channels are now the top three news sources for young people. BBC TV channels were eliminated in the first place.
Half of young YouTubers believe they provide reliable news, and 30% trust news content on TikTok. pic.twitter.com/1Eoxu9H9Cm
– Ofcom (@Ofcom) 21 July 2022
TikTok, owned by Chinese tech giant ByteDance, has come under constant scrutiny after it was announced last month that the company actually had access to user data in the US, confirming long-standing warnings that former President Donald Trump is trying to ban the app in the US. . , but after Democrat Joe Biden took office, a judge blocked and canceled the plan.
Despite TikTok’s insistence on separating its West-facing app from a local Chinese version known as Dǒuyīn, the logs leaked last month said the company was redirecting “100 percent” of US data through Chinese servers, raising concerns. About the Chinese, the Communist Party uses TikTok as a tool to spy on Americans.
This prompted FCC Chairman Brendan Carr to call on Google and Apple to ban the app from app stores, arguing that it only uses the video-sharing service as “sheep’s clothing” and that its purpose is to collect “sensitive data piles.” New reports suggest it’s getting closer to Beijing.”
This confirms previous warnings from former MI6 chief Nigel Inskter, who said that in 2020 TikTok could be used as a backdoor to access personal information of British politicians, even only minor members of their families signed up for the app.
“What Chinese intelligence agencies are very good at is identifying entry points that are not open to specific targets,” Bay said. Ink master.
Ignoring such safety warnings, the left-wing Labor Party ordered all MPs to create their own TikTok accounts last year after pranksters began creating parody accounts of prominent politicians, including London Mayor Sadiq Khan and Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer.
Get crafting memes! Labor lawmakers order to join Chinese TikTok to avoid parody accounts https://t.co/Aw8liXg9yQ
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) March 9, 2021
Source: Breitbart
