A report by Ofcom last week revealed that online sites and apps are now more popular than television in the UK when it comes to accessing the latest news. After decades of dominance, our televisions have been superseded by the internet when we want to find out what is going on in the world.
This is promising news for British newspapers, which are successfully making the transition from print editions to digital services.
There is no reason why high-quality, well-managed newspapers cannot be profitable in the age of the iPhone, and many publications are now proving this to be the case.
Yet the growing dominance of online news also presents very serious challenges for our society, and it is no exaggeration to say that the health of our democracy is at stake. This is because the places on the internet that many people are getting their news from simply cannot be relied on.
Ofcom’s report revealed that the most significant factor in the shift to online news is the habit of more and more people to get their news via social media. More than half of UK adults now use platforms such as TikTok and Twitter/X to access news. Perhaps most concerningly, a huge majority of 16 to 24-year-olds (82 per cent) follow the news via social media, with the five most popular news services for this age group being Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, TikTok and Twitter/X.
We should all be troubled by this. Social media is not designed to prioritise accurate information. It is not set up to separate truth from lies, information from propaganda.
What we read on social media is determined by an algorithm and this algorithm has one principal job – to keep us online for as long as possible and ensure that we consume the maximum amount of advertising.
Studies have shown that angry, divisive and outrageous content generates a stronger reaction from users and keeps them scrolling for longer. This high-performing content gets prioritised on social media platforms, fuelling networks of misinformation.
The results of this are clear to see. Social media platforms have been poisoned by fake news and toxic content.
Malign individuals deliver a daily stream of viral content designed to mislead and divide us. Terrorist propaganda is a few clicks away on our phones. Authoritarian states have a powerful new weapon to disrupt our democratic system and tear at our social fabric. It is highly disturbing that TikTok may have given the Chinese government a direct and addictive line into the phones, homes and minds of a vast number of British people. If so, we should not expect them to use this opportunity to further the public good.
So, what does this mean for our collective futures, for our world in 20 years’ time? If young people form lifelong habits of consuming most of their news on social media the risks of creating a divided, misinformed, angry electorate grow exponentially. Social cohesion will diminish and the siren call of exploitative populists will become ever more attractive.
Keir Starmer has plenty in his in-tray but his Government cannot afford to ignore this problem.
If television, radio and newspapers are closely regulated, why are highly influential social media platforms not subject to similar obligations to protect us from harm?
It has been too easy for the tech giants to avoid responsibility for what appears on the services that have made them so extraordinarily wealthy.
Perhaps we can learn from developments in Australia where the government last week proposed a ban on the use of social media for children under 16. This will be hard to enforce but it is an important statement of intent that emphasises the risks that social media presents to young minds in particular.
Alternatively, we can all take the simple step of deleting social media apps from our phones.
Life seems healthier without them and our shared future depends on reading news we can trust.
