
Social media platform TikTok has been in the middle of a lot of controversies due to allegations of data breaches and the involvement of the Chinese government in tracking user data. However, a new survey shows that it has not changed its popularity in the United States – especially among the youth.
The survey conducted by the Pew Research Center found that around one-third of TikTok users get their consumption of news from the platform. Most of these users were aged under 30 years but the percentage of users between 30-49 years who get their news from TikTok has grown quite a bit.
It currently stands at 10 per cent – a huge rise from 2 per cent in 2020. The growth can also be seen in people in the age group of 50-64 years where the number has gone up by three per cent.
It is a surprising trend for a social media platform that is well-known for dance videos and generally light-hearted user-generated content. However, with young people in the US spending a lot of time online, it has turned into an educational source for them when it comes to news.
Media outlets like the Los Angeles Times have also decided to cash in on the popularity of TikTok as a news source as it introduced its team of reporters who work purely on the platform.
“With the goal of meeting new audiences where they are, 404 is ushering in a new era of audience engagement at The Times and rewriting the rulebook for how a ‘paper’ exists online,” the LA Times website claimed.