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TikTok news consumption is on the rise. Back in 2020, just three percent of respondents to a survey held in the United States stated that they regularly got their news from TikTok. By 2025, this figure had increased more than sixfold to 20 percent. Younger adults – those aged between 18 and 29 years old – are the most frequent TikTok news users, with 43 percent getting news there on a regular basis, which is more than double that of adults between 30 and 49 years and more than ten times the share of adults aged 65 and above.

The rise of TikTok as a news source

TikTok’s penetration rate in the U.S. is highest among Gen Z and Millennials, at 38 percent and 37 percent respectively. These young users are those driving TikTok’s growing popularity as a news source. Whilst X (formerly known as Twitter) remains the most used social network for news, TikTok is rapidly catching up. Alongside Truth Social, TikTok now ranks as the second most popular social media site for news consumption, with 55 percent of U.S. adults regularly using each platform to keep up to date.

The most popular news publishers on TikTok

According to the most recently available data, the leading news publisher on TikTok in the U.S. is socially native brand NowThis, with 5.5 million followers. Targeting left-leaning younger consumers, NowThis describes itself as social media’s number one video news brand. Ranking second, third, and fourth respectively are broadcast TV news outlets ABC, NBC, and CBS with between three and five million followers. Meanwhile, left-leaning cable network CNN had less success with a follower count of under 1.5 million.