Social Media and Video Platforms Edge Out TV as Most Widely Used News Source Globally
A Reuters Institute survey of nearly 100,000 people in 48 countries found 54 percent obtained news from social media or video platforms in the week before the poll, ahead of television at 52 percent.
France 24Social media and video platforms have become the most widely used source of news worldwide, according to a Reuters Institute report released on 16 June 2026. The survey found that 54 percent of respondents obtained news from those platforms in the week before the poll. The figure rose to 56 percent when AI chatbots were included.
Post by @AFP on X
Television reached 52 percent of respondents, newspaper apps and websites reached 51 percent, and radio reached 21 percent. The report is based on online surveys of almost 100,000 people across 48 countries conducted early in 2026 by YouGov. Three in ten respondents overall named social media or video platforms as their primary news source.
Among respondents aged 18–24, half said social media or video platforms were their main source of news. Television remained the leading source only among those aged 45–54 and over 55. Weekly use of AI chatbots for news rose to 10 percent, up from 7 percent the previous year.
Users of X and YouTube most often visited those platforms specifically for news, while Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok users more often encountered news incidentally. Seventeen percent of respondents said they pay for online news. Trust in most news most of the time fell to 37 percent, an all-time low in the survey series.
France 24 reported that the report was issued on 16 June 2026. The report described the change as a gradual drift rather than an abrupt shift.
