In its News Consumption in the UK 2021/22 report, released on Thursday, Ofcom said that social media is overtaking traditional channels for news among teens. Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube are now their top three most used news sources.

News viewing to BBC One, BBC Two, the BBC News channel, ITV, and Sky News is now below pre-pandemic levels, which Ofcom said is part of a longer-term decline in traditional TV news viewing.

TikTok's reach for news increased from 1 percent in 2020 to 7 percent in 2022. Half of its user base for news is aged 16–24, bringing it on par with Sky News' website and app.

TikTok is a hugely popular short-format video app that allows users to create and share videos. It started in China as "Douyin" in September 2016, but was relaunched as TikTok internationally in September 2017.

Users of TikTok for news claim to get more of their news on the platform from "other people they follow" (44 percent) rather than "news organisations" (24 percent).

Yih-Choung Teh, Ofcom's group director for strategy and research, said in a statement:

"Teenagers today are increasingly unlikely to pick up a newspaper or tune into TV News, instead preferring to keep up-to-date by scrolling through their social feeds.