More Americans are regularly getting news on TikTok, Pew Research finds
The number of U.S. adults turning to TikTok for news continues to grow.
A summer survey from Pew Research Center found 17% of adults regularly get news from the social media app known for short-form video sharing.
That number has grown fivefold over the years, with just 3% of adults saying in 2020 that TikTok was a source of news for them.
When looking at TikTok users specifically, around half (52%) now say they regularly get news there, up from 43% in 2023 and 22% in 2020.
Survey results showed that TikTok users are now more likely to get news from TikTok than Facebook users are to get news from Facebook.
X, formerly Twitter, still has the highest number of users who report regularly getting news on their site.
RELATED: TikTok files lawsuit over law that would force sale, ban in US
Young adults on TikTok
The demographic that gets their news from TikTok varies widely over age groups. Here’s how it breaks down:
Today, 39% of adults under 30 say they regularly get news there, compared with much smaller shares of adults ages 30 to 49 (19%), 50 to 64 (9%) and 65 and older (3%).
Why does the U.S. want to ban TikTok?
US House passes bill that would ban TikTok
The House passed a bill that could ban TikTok in the U.S. by a vote of 352-65 on Wednesday. The fight now heads to the Senate. The bill requires ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns the app, to divest within 165 days of its passage, or TikTok would be banned in the US. Jamil Jaffer, Founder and Executive director, and professor at GMU's law school weighs in.
TikTok first launched in China in 2016 before going worldwide in 2018. It has since skyrocketed in popularity but not without growing scrutiny.
The platform continues to face growing privacy concerns that have led to bans of the app on government devices and even statewide bans.
Ever since its unveiling worldwide, TikTok has had to fend off claims that its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, shares data with the Chinese government, and that its proprietary algorithm is vulnerable to manipulation by Chinese authorities.
Currently, TikTok and ByteDance are challenging the U.S. law passed in April that is forcing them to break ties by mid-January or face a ban in the U.S., one of their biggest markets in the world.
READ MORE: TikTok ban bill signed by Biden - now what?
Can I download TikTok?
Yes, you will still be able to download TikTok, and if you’ve already downloaded it, that’s fine, too.
If the ban does come to fruition, the app likely won’t just disappear from your phone either.
But it would disappear from Apple and Google's app stores, which means new users won't be able to download it.
This would also mean that TikTok wouldn't be able to send updates, security patches and bug fixes, and over time the app would likely become unusable — not to mention a security risk.