How young people engage with news

While young people use and engage with news differently from older generations, they continue to value concepts such as trustworthiness and fairness.[1]

Primary news sources and devices

Young people turn to social media more than anywhere else as a source of news.[2] A significant portion of Canadians under 30 (39%) regularly get informed about current affairs on apps like TikTok, compared to 17% of all adults.[3] Similarly, 36% of 18-44-year-olds primarily access news online through social media, a stark contrast to the 17% of those aged 45 and older. This age group (18-44) also favours social media over directly visiting news websites or apps for online news.[4]

Specific platforms are more popular among younger demographics:

• Instagram is favoured by 20% of French-speaking and 24% of English-speaking 18-44-year-olds for news.
• TikTok is used by 22% of French-speaking and 15% of English-speaking 18-44-year-olds for news.
• YouTube is also widely used by young people for news-related online videos, though those aged 55 and over tend to favour news websites or apps.[5]

Content preferences and engagement styles

Young people appreciate brevity and entertainment value in news, which often leads to consumption of "news-adjacent clips" like skits reenacting Supreme Court rulings or hype videos for political agendas. Creators on these platforms "dress up the news to make it algorithm friendly."[6]

When engaging with news, young people:

• Prefer listening to news online: 20% of 18-24-year-olds prefer online audio, compared to just 8% of those 55 and over.[7]
• Interact more online: Canadians are more likely to comment on current events on social media (12%) than on news websites (8%). However, discussing news still occurs more face-to-face (33%) than online (15%).[8]
• Are not extensively using AI for specific news-related purposes: In 2024, the majority of people, including younger users, didn’t frequently use AI tools to receive the latest news, learn about politicians or political issues, or form voting opinions. Instead, they used AI mostly for learning about specific topics, getting factual answers and finding solutions to daily problems.[9]

Challenges and perceptions

Youth have distinct attitudes and perceptions towards news, which raises particular challenges for accessing and evaluating it:

The “news-finds-me" perception: Young people typically expect important news to "find them" through their social media feeds rather than being actively sought out.[10] This perception, fostered by encounters with news through peer connections and algorithmic recommendations, leads them to believe they can stay informed without actively seeking news. However, it is associated with less knowledge of politics and public affairs, sharing fake news, lower political interest and reduced voting in elections.[11]

Distrust and news avoidance: Younger audiences are becoming harder for news organizations to reach. They show long-term declines in news interest and trust, as well as increased news avoidance. Globally, only about a third of 15-24-year-olds trust the accuracy of national and international media.[12] News avoidance among young people has grown. This disengagement can deepen social divides and reduce participation in political life. Reasons youth give for avoiding news include the sheer volume of it, the emotional toll of negative headlines and general distrust of the media.[13]

Perceptions of unfair coverage: Younger people are less likely than older people to perceive news media coverage of their age group as fair.[14]

Misinformation concerns: While news consumers on TikTok trust crowdsourced fact-checking via comments (often the "most liked" ones), they may take additional steps to fact-check content that "sounds a little shady.”[15] Misinformation spreaders leverage the credibility of mainstream sources by stripping factual stories of context and reframing them to support misleading claims (e.g., vaccine doubt, crime exaggeration), making them harder to dismiss.[16]

AI perceptions: Younger people generally exhibit more optimism about novel technologies and tend to use them more. They also tend to trust the journalistic deployment of AI more than older individuals. However, despite higher AI usage, factual knowledge about AI is often low among younger users. They also report having more concerns about AI than older people.