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In today’s email:
- Featured story: TikTok’s U.S. status in limbo
- In other news: Other platforms TikTok users are turning to
- Looking ahead: News organizations take differing approaches toward AI products
- Chart of the week: Young adults stand out in their use of TikTok to keep up with politics and get news
🔥 Featured story
TikTok is preparing to shut down the app in the United States ahead of Jan. 19, the date outlined in last year’s legislation by which TikTok’s Chinese-owned company had to sell the app or face a U.S. ban. But it remains uncertain whether the ban will actually go into effect on Sunday. The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments challenging the ban last week and seemed inclined to uphold the law. At the same time, The Washington Post reported that incoming President Donald Trump, set to be inaugurated on Monday, is considering executive actions to “save TikTok.”
A third of U.S. adults say they use TikTok, including 59% of adults under 30 who use the app. And about half of U.S. adult TikTok users (52%) say they regularly get news there; that works out to 17% of all U.S. adults. While news consumption on some other social media sites has declined or remained steady in recent years, the share of U.S. TikTok users who get news on the site has more than doubled since 2020, from 22%.
📌 In other news
- Ahead of the TikTok ban, users are migrating to other platforms
- Google will not add fact checks to search results and YouTube content despite new EU law
- Departing FCC chair warns of efforts to link broadcast stations’ licenses to their news content as the agency dismisses complaints
- News organizations are taking steps to prepare for potential Trump investigations and lawsuits
- Local news audiences surge during the L.A. fires
- Rashida Jones is stepping down as MSNBC president
- A look at the continued backlash against billionaire media owners
📅 Looking ahead
News organizations continue to take differing approaches toward tech companies and their AI products. For example, Axios and OpenAI announced a deal that will allow ChatGPT to use Axios journalism to answer user queries (crediting the source), while OpenAI funds four local newsrooms operated by Axios. And The Associated Press is collaborating with Google to offer users up-to-date information in Gemini.
But at the same time, The New York Times and other publishers are proceeding with a copyright infringement lawsuit against OpenAI.
A 2024 Pew Research Center survey found that 54% of Americans say artificial intelligence programs that generate text and images – like ChatGPT and Gemini – need to credit the sources they rely on to produce their responses. A much smaller share (14%) say the programs don’t need to credit sources, while about a third (32%) say they’re not sure.
📊 Chart of the week
As the potential U.S. ban on TikTok looms, we look at young adults’ use of the app to get news and keep up with politics.
In a March 2024 survey, 48% of U.S. TikTok users ages 18 to 29 said keeping up with politics is a reason they use the app – compared with 36% of those ages 30 to 49 and even smaller shares of older users who said the same. And about half of users 18 to 29 (52%) said getting news is a reason they use TikTok, also higher than the shares of older users who cited this as a reason they are on the app.
👋 That’s all for this week.
The Briefing is compiled by Pew Research Center staff, including Naomi Forman-Katz, Jacob Liedke, Sarah Naseer, Christopher St. Aubin, Luxuan Wang and Emily Tomasik. It is edited by Michael Lipka and copy edited by David Kent.
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