Is the news on TikTok reputable?

Is the news on TikTok reputable?

The social media platform TikTok is currently on everyone's lips. Younger people in particular use it every day. Participants can use it to exchange ideas and post news. But are the latter always reliable?

In a study conducted by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism in various countries, such as Great Britain, India, the U.S., and Brazil, 20% of the respondents stated that they believed the platform only 24% of the time. That is a very low figure. After all, it is visited by numerous people around the world every day. Facebook and the other social media platforms also did not score particularly well in the test.

Younger people are more likely to trust the site

Among other things, the study found that younger people trust TikTok more than older people. However, this is certainly also due to the fact that they are on the site significantly more often. And if you read a certain topic over and over again, you'll believe it at some point. Older people tend to question this and check other sites to see if the news is really true. Around 40 % of those under 35 believe that the TikTok news is really true.

No more fake news on TikTok than on other social media

Even though there is a lot of fake news on TikTok, it is not a larger percentage than on Facebook or Instagram, for example. Unfortunately, people keep using the platform to spread propaganda and confront other people with lies. Since these spread very quickly in this day and age, misunderstandings quickly arise.

Search engine scores significantly better

There is hardly a person who owns a smartphone or a tablet who does not regularly look up certain things on search engine. And the search engine also performs much better than TikTok in the tests. For example, 53% of Americans are convinced that the news they find there is really true. Here, too, it is the younger people who place a great deal of trust in the site.

Fraudsters take on a wide variety of roles

On TikTok, as on all the other social media mentioned, there are always people pretending to be someone they are not. For example, there was once a person who claimed to be a well-known pop singer. With this scam he tried to ensnare a woman. He promised her that he would record a music album with other well-known stars of the industry. The only thing he lacked was the money. And that's where she came in. In the end, she let herself be persuaded and transferred a four-digit sum of money to him.

This shows that there are indeed criminals and fake news on TikTok. However, this is also the case on all other social media.