Half of Americans get their news from social media but for many, it’s not by choice.
On three of the four major platforms, most users don’t go looking for news but see it – and it’s often sketchy.
That’s according to a new survey by the Pew Research Center, part of the Pew-Knight Initiative that examines media and technology trends. This time the focus is on how Americans see news on TikTok, X, Facebook and Instagram.
The findings raise interesting questions for the news industry that is desperately trying to connect with online audiences.
This is also another reminder that the word “media” in “social media” does not mean that the technology platform is a good place to get information or spread news.
Pew found that X remains a news site despite the site’s owner, Elon Musk, repeatedly attacking and disparaging the news media.
Getting news is the main or minor reason that 65% of users go to X, Pew found. Among all X users, 92% view news-related content on the site.
In contrast, getting news is the main or minor reason that only 41% of TikTok users sign up for. Only 37% of Facebook users and 33% of Instagram users say news is the reason for visiting the site. Even so, 82% to 91% of the site’s users still see news when they visit.
“Viewing news” in this case does not mean viewing news articles. It may include seeing people’s opinions on news shows, joking references to current events or information about breaking-news events that are happening.
Nor does it mean that people get their news from journalists.
X is the most prominent, with 80% of news consumers there saying they get their news from news outlets or journalists.
TikTok news consumers only get news from influencers or celebrities, and 84% get news from strangers — “others they don’t know personally,” as Pew puts it. Instagram and Facebook news consumers get most of their news from friends, family and acquaintances.
At least they know the “news” they get for free is a mixed bag.
In X, 86% of news consumers say they often or sometimes see news that appears to be inaccurate, Pew found. On Facebook, 84% often or sometimes see inaccurate news, 76% say about Instagram and 71% about TikTok.
Breaking down, among X news consumers, 37% see inaccurate news “very often” or “fairly often,” Pew found. Among Facebook news consumers, 33% often see inaccurate news, 25% say about Instagram and 23% about TikTok.
Pew also found that Republicans are more likely to say they’ve seen inaccurate news on Facebook, and Democrats are more likely to talk about X.
The results are based on a sample of 10,287 adult internet users and have a margin of error of 1.5%.
Perhaps Pew should collaborate with Harris-Guardian pollsters who last month found that half of Americans believe that the bottom is up and the top is down when it comes to the economy.
Nearly three in five Americans mistakenly believe the US is in a recession, 49% believe unemployment is at a 50-year high when it is at a 50-year level and 49% believe the S&P 500 is down when it is actually up.
Where did they get this false information, and how do they know what is accurate?
Pink slime beyond the daily newspaper: If you can’t take more exciting news about the media ecosystem, don’t read any more of this column.
A new report by NewsGuard says that pink slime websites, which purport to be neutral local news outlets but are actually linked to partisan groups or hostile governments, now outnumber local daily newspapers in the US.
NewsGuard, a company that rates news sites, found 1,265 pink slime sites in June 2024, surpassing the 1,213 dailies counted last fall by Northwestern University’s Medill School.
“Pink slime sites have rushed to fill the void left by the closing of local newspapers in the US,” NewsGuard said in a release.
That includes Newsroom State’s network of nonprofit news outlets, which are tagged by NewsGuard because of their progressive supporters.
The Axios report noted that State Newsroom disputed the characterization as partisan. Even if you don’t include the roughly 40 state-run sites, there are still more pink slime sites than daily newspapers, according to NewsGuard’s count.
A more obvious example of pink slime that NewsGuard identified is “a network of 167 news sites operating as part of a sophisticated pro-Russian disinformation network.”
The network includes 64 sites that are local news outlets, with names like “The Boston Times,” that spread false narratives ahead of the US election.
“The network is the first visible cross between the so-called ‘pink slime’ site, artificial intelligence and Russian disinformation,” NewsGuard said in a release.
I wish all voters the best of luck trying to find reliable news this fall.
This is excerpted from the free weekly Voices for a Free Press newsletter. Sign up to receive it at the Save the Free Press website, st.news/SavetheFreePress.
