How Americans Navigate Politics on TikTok, X, Facebook and Instagram
X stands out as a place people go to keep up with politics. Still, some users see political posts on Facebook, TikTok and Instagram, too.
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
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How Americans Get News on TikTok, X, Facebook and Instagram
X is still more of a news destination than these other platforms, but the vast majority of users on all four see news-related content.
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WhatsApp and Facebook dominate the social media landscape in middle-income nations
Across eight countries surveyed in Latin America, Africa and South Asia, a median of 73% of adults say they use WhatsApp and 62% say they use Facebook.
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How U.S. Adults Use TikTok
About half of all U.S. adults who use TikTok have never posted a video themselves. And the top 25% of U.S. adults on the site by posting volume produce 98% of all publicly accessible videos from this group. Users who have posted videos are generally more active on the platform than non-posters.
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Americans’ Social Media Use
YouTube and Facebook are by far the most used online platforms among U.S. adults. But TikTok’s user base has grown significantly in recent years: 33% of U.S. adults now say they use it, up from 21% in 2021.
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A declining share of adults, and few teens, support a U.S. TikTok ban
38% of U.S. adults say they would support the U.S. government banning TikTok, compared with 18% of U.S. teens ages 13 to 17.
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Teens, Social Media and Technology 2023
YouTube, TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram remain the most widely used online platforms among U.S. teens. And teens are less likely to be using Facebook and Twitter (recently renamed X) than they were a decade ago.
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Majority of Americans say TikTok is a threat to national security
About six-in-ten Americans (59%) see TikTok as a major or minor threat to national security in the United States.
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Teens and social media: Key findings from Pew Research Center surveys
More than half of U.S. teens say it would be difficult for them to give up social media. 36% say they spend too much time on social media.
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By more than two-to-one, Americans support U.S. government banning TikTok
Americans support banning TikTok by a more than two-to-one margin, according to a new Pew Research Center survey.
