OWEN FUGIT / ASST. OPINION EDITOR

CADEN HAYNOR / NEWS EDITOR

One fifth of American adults now regularly get news on TikTok, according to a recent study by The Pew Research Center. The entertainment-centered social media platform hosts   approximately   1.59   billion active monthly users globally. 

Pew Research also concluded that nearly 43% of American adults aged 18-29 say they regularly get their news from the app. This is an increase from 2020, when 9% of that group used TikTok as a primary news source. 

One fifth of Americans now turn to TikTok as their primary news source. Hailey Howell/The USD Vista

USD first-year Madison Courtney explained why she thinks TikTok is used so prevalently as a news source in the U.S.

“I think it’s a product of our generation,” Courtney said. “We see social media, and we see it as a truth because of how ingrained it is in our society. And that also reflects on how we get our news about current events and the world.”

American social media consumption is not limited to TikTok,  though.  With more than five billion monthly users across the entire globe, two billion more than in 2019, more people than ever before are turning to social media for information. 

Such a sharp increase in active users is not without consequence, and continues to play a large role in political polarization  in the United States.   Michael Canepa, a former adjunct professor at USD, and a career journalist with The San Diego Union-Tribune for over 33 years, addressed the issue.

“To me, this is  deeply disturbing” Canepa said. “Any source  that  uses  an  algorithm to provide  information  isn’t giving the reader a  balanced view. It’s slanting its  ‘news’ to what it believes  the  person wants to read. This only reinforces  an  already  developed  opinion  instead  of  presenting a fair and accurate report.  I  just can’t see any value in this. It’s vitally  important  to understand both sides of an issue.”

Dr. Andrew Tirrell, an associate professor of political science and international relations at USD, explained that societal tendencies to assume bias in traditional media may be misplaced.  

“If anything’s biased, it’s the stuff that’s attempting to be biased, which are opinion pieces, which is my impression of what you get a lot of on social media,” Dr. Tirrell said. “And so to the extent that we’re worried about bias in media, the traditional mainstream media that’s been vilified tends to have really strong norms and rules against bias.”

The Trump administration continues efforts to delay a congressionally legislated TikTok ban citing potential economic impacts — something that the Sept. 25, executive order 14352 makes plain. 

“It looks like TikTok might be bought up soon,” Dr. Tirrell said. “And because it’s not traditional journalism and not subject to the same standards of objectivity, whoever owns social media companies can give it their own tilt.”

USD first-year Matthew Singh, held a slightly different perspective from Tirrell.

 “The fact that people are using TikTok as their main source of news, I see that as a positive thing,” Singh said. “I want a politically engaged society that is keeping up with current events, and I think TikTok is actually a good way for younger generations to feel that connectedness.” 

The Pew Research Center found that less than 1% of all the TikTok accounts that American users follow belong to institutional news sources or professional journalists. The study also discovered a link between pop culture and entertainment accounts and political content, noting that 43% of the accounts that posted news content in the study also posted other, non-news related content.

TikTok users said they regularly see news from so-called news influencers. The Pew Research Center uses the term “news influencer” in  reference  to  people on social media apps who typically post about current events, politics or other related issues. 

Courtney noted how young people are probably more trusting    of    online  opinion pieces based upon real newsworthy events blurring the line between analysis and journalism.

“[Young people] take things as they  are instead  of checking [their] sources and seeing the validity  of  the  claims that are being made online,” Courtney said.

In  a   2021   report  by  Sandvine,   a  Canadian technology company, researchers estimated that 53.72%  of all internet traffic could be attributed to users watching and  uploading videos, with sites like TikTok and YouTube dominating in that space.  

According  to Tirrell, this   increase  poses   an   issue to  individuals  attempting to  keep  up  with  current events.

“One  of   the   more   annoying things  that’s  happened  is  most of  the  news has converted from written word to video,” Tirrell said. “I want to be able to skim and find the bit of   information  that I’m  looking  for  and  still get a   sense  of the  whole  article.  Like,  sometimes   I want to read a  whole article…  [now]  it’s  harder and  harder  to  just  get   news.” 

As  for   students  who   already get  their  news  from   TikTok   or other  social  media  apps,  Singh supports their interest. While Singh himself balances his TikTok news usage with other legacy sources such as The New York Times, he prefers TikTok because of its accessibility for younger Americans to build an interest in current events. 

“I   would  rather   have  people see  TikTok  as a  news source than have no news  source at  all,  and I would say  TikTok is a very good way  to reach these people,  especially younger generations,” Singh said.

However, for  students  with   the capacity  and  the  desire  to do so,  Canepa    encourages   them to read  stories  from  institutional,   reputable   sources.  

“I  always told my students to  read  newspapers,  at  least two   if  possible,” Canepa said. “I  read both the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. Both excellent sources. And read the whole story, not just the headline and first few graphs. Otherwise, the reader is not being fully informed. They are getting  the  ‘who’  and  the   ‘what.’ Not the ‘why’ and the ‘how.’”

For  students interested in current  events,  or  students who want   to get  more news from  more  sources,  USD  offers free Wall Street Journal and New York Times subscriptions. Students can activate their accounts on the newspaper sources  page   of   Copley   Library’s   research    guides online.

Americans are able to quickly access short videos on the TikTok app, including news stories. Hailey Howell/The USD Vista