Gen Z's 'Main News Source' Splits 25% to 52%+ Across Media Trackers Depending on Definition

Findings

• Reuters Institute's Digital News Report 2026, based on roughly 100,000 interviews across 48 markets, found 52% of 18-to-24-year-olds worldwide now name social media, video platforms, and AI chatbots as their main source of news -- the first time this combined category has topped 50% for that age group, up from a 22% global social-and-video share five years earlier.
• Pew Research Center's U.S. survey found 76% of 18-to-29-year-old news consumers say they prefer getting news from social media over news websites (60%), and separately that 43% of that age group now regularly get news specifically on TikTok, versus just 3% of adults 65 and older.
• Attest's February 2026 survey of 1,000 U.S. Gen Z adults (ages 18-27) found only 25% name TikTok specifically as their primary news platform, with traditional news apps at 17% and Instagram at 15% -- no single platform functions as a majority 'main source' once the question is platform-specific rather than category-wide.
• Ofcom's UK tracking, which asks about social media use for news among the general adult population rather than a 'main source' framing, put social media news usage at 51% of all UK adults in its most recent report -- underscoring that 'main source,' 'prefer,' 'regularly use,' and 'primary platform' are four different survey questions that do not reduce to the same number.