TikTok is now the most popular single source of news for teens in the UK, according to research by Ofcom.
Ofcom through the research discovered that 28% of 12 to 15-year-olds use TikTok in finding out about current affairs.
This is more than the time they spend on other platforms like YouTube. YouTube and Instagram are at second position at 25%.
The research also discovered that 68% of UK adults now use online sources for news, compared with just 26% for print newspapers.
However TV remains the most popular platform, with 70% of adults tuning in to find out about current events – with the figure rising to 75% when on-demand content is included.
However, despite the rise of TikTok, 45% of the teenagers covered by the said they were not interested in the news. They said they found it “too boring” while 16% said they found it “too upsetting”.
Ofcom’s’s research was a product of interviews with more than 1,000 young people.
It found out that 23% of those aged 12 to 15 were most interested in “sports or sports personalities” news while 15% are interested about “music news or singers”, while 11% are about the latest on “celebrities or famous people”.
In recent times, TikTok had faced criticisms and concern among western governments over it’s alleged links to the Chinese government, which the company denied, leading to the ban of the app on government devices in Australia, Canada, the EU and the UK.
