Headline evidence · Media & information · Great Britain adults 18+ · British Social Attitudes 2024, fieldwork September to October 2024
Almost six in ten under-35s get most of their political news from social media. Among over-55s, fewer than one in twelve do.
Almost six in ten under-35s get most of their political news from social media. Among over-55s, fewer than one in twelve do. Across all adults, television and social media are the two most common main sources, and the survey cannot separate them.
Proposed outcome: Support reliable news, a range of voices and accountability while protecting freedom of expression. What could change →
- Geography
- Great Britain, adults 18+
- Evidence period
- Autumn 2024
- Evidence status
- Survey-based
- Editorial review
- Reviewed 24 October 2026
The short version
Three key measures
Survey-based evidence
British Social Attitudes 2024Fieldwork: September to October 2024Push-to-web survey of adults in Great Britain, fieldwork autumn 2024, weighted; the media questions were asked of 1,529 people, so each estimate has a margin of about 3 points.Where do people get most of their political news?
31%say television
About three in ten British adults get most of their political news from television and about a quarter from social media. Among under-35s, almost six in ten rely mainly on social media.
Where people get political news →Great Britain, adults 18+ · Autumn 2024 · Survey-based
Definition, limits and source: Where do people get most of their political news?
31% of adults in Great Britain named television as their main source of political news and 27% social media (British Social Attitudes 2024). Among 16 to 34s, 58% rely mainly on social media, against 8% of those aged 55 and over. Each estimate has a margin of about 3 points. Main source is a different measure from reach, trust or influence: Ofcom’s reach figures are a separate survey and are not compared here.
Survey-based · British Social Attitudes 2024 (UK Data Service SN 9478), ISSP media module, question Q20
Survey-based evidence
Ofcom News Consumption Survey 2026Fieldwork: November 2025 to March 2026A survey of UK adults aged 16 and over (base 5,397); estimates have sampling uncertainty.Does Meta reach more people with news than newspapers?
51%of UK adults, via Meta
The share reaching news through Meta’s services. Audiences overlap; reach does not establish trust or influence.
Who reaches the audience? →UK, adults 16+ (base 5,397) · Fieldwork November 2025 to March 2026
Definition, limits and source: Does Meta reach more people with news than newspapers?
Newspapers in print or online: 44%. The BBC is the largest single provider at 77%. Share of adults who saw or heard news on each in the past month; audiences overlap, so these never add to 100%. Reach is reported use, not trust, persuasion or market share. Ofcom changed its method in 2026, so these are not directly comparable with earlier years.
Survey-based · Ofcom, News consumption in the UK 2026 — research findings, Figures 1, 8 and 9; adult data tables, Table 359
What does UK law require of the biggest platforms’ feeds?
10platforms in Ofcom’s top tier
Large platforms covered by the highest category of online-safety rules. Some further duties are still being developed.
How platforms distribute news →United Kingdom · As at 28 September 2026
Definition, limits and source: What does UK law require of the biggest platforms’ feeds?
Each runs a content recommender system — one of the legal tests for Category 1. They must assess how algorithms spread illegal content and content harmful to children. Ofcom’s consultation on the duties covering news publisher content and content of democratic importance closed on 2 October 2026; its final decisions are not yet published. No UK rule covers the plurality of what feeds select.
Administrative data · Ofcom, Register of categorised services (Online Safety Act 2023)
Who feels this most?
Younger people. In Ofcom’s 2026 survey 78% of 16–24s saw news on social media or video platforms in the past month, against 22% of over-75s, and online intermediaries took 37% of the 72 minutes a day adults spend on news. Much of what people meet there is journalism from broadcasters and publishers, but the feed decides which of it each person sees. Ofcom changed its method in 2026, so these figures are not directly comparable with its 2025 survey.
The evidence
Where people get their political news
Survey-based evidence
British Social Attitudes 2024Fieldwork: September to October 2024Push-to-web survey of adults in Great Britain, fieldwork autumn 2024, weighted; the media questions were asked of 1,529 people, so each estimate has a margin of about 3 points.
Television (31%) and social media (27%) are the two most common main sources across all adults, and the survey cannot tell them apart: their margins of error overlap. For people aged 16 to 34, social media is the main source for 58%; for those aged 55 and over, 8%. Newspapers are the main source for about one in eight. The gap between age groups is far bigger than any gap between sources overall.
Main source of political news, adults in Great Britain (base 1,529). The range is the 95% interval. Remaining answers were other or can’t choose.
- Television31%28–34
- Social media27%24–30
- Websites and search15%12–17
- Newspapers (print or online)13%11–15
- Radio and podcasts7%5–9
Social media is the main source
Percent of each age group.
- 16 to 34 (n=329)58%
- 35 to 54 (n=508)24%
- 55 and over (n=687)8%
Television is the main source
- 16 to 34 (n=329)12%
- 35 to 54 (n=508)29%
- 55 and over (n=687)46%
Newspapers are the main source
- 16 to 34 (n=329)5%
- 35 to 54 (n=508)11%
- 55 and over (n=687)21%
Trust follows habit, not evidence of accuracy
The public rates news on social media as the least reliable of five kinds of source, yet people who get most of their news there rate it far more reliable than others do. Separate surveys give a sense of the wider mood: in the British Election Study 2024, 40% trusted traditional news media and 15% social media; the Reuters Institute found 30% trust most news most of the time. The questions, scales and samples differ, so these are not a trend and should not be averaged.
How reliable people rate political news on each type of source. Among people who rely mainly on social media, 53% rate social media news as reliable, against 30% of people who rely mainly on television. The question is about types of source, not named outlets.
- Television: reliable66%
- Television: unreliable27%
- Radio and podcasts: reliable61%
- Radio and podcasts: unreliable25%
- Newspapers: reliable59%
- Newspapers: unreliable32%
- Websites: reliable52%
- Websites: unreliable35%
- Social media: reliable32%
- Social media: unreliable57%
Who owns the news, and who reaches people
National newspaper sales are concentrated in three publishers, but newspapers are the main political news source for only about one person in eight. Ownership concentration of a shrinking channel is not evidence of influence over what people think. Reach is a different measure again: Ofcom finds Meta reaches more adults in a month than all newspapers combined, though much of what appears there is journalism made by newspapers and broadcasters.
Share of national newspaper print circulation, 2024. The three highlighted publishers had 90%, up from 71% in 2014. Share of combined weekly national newspaper print circulation. It shows concentration of a shrinking channel, not influence over opinion.
- DMG Media43%
- News UK32%
- Reach14%
- Telegraph Media Group5%
Reach in the last month, UK adults 16+, base 5,397. Platforms often carry journalism made by newspapers and broadcasters, so these audiences overlap.
- BBC77%
- Google60%
- Meta51%
- ITV50%
- All newspapers, print and online44%
Survey-based evidence
Ofcom News Consumption Survey 2026Fieldwork: November 2025 to March 2026A survey of UK adults aged 16 and over (base 5,397); estimates have sampling uncertainty.
Who reaches the news audience?
Meta reaches more adults with news (51%) than all newspapers combined (44%); the BBC reaches the most (77%)
- BBC (TV, radio and online)Broadcaster
- Google (Search, YouTube, News, Gemini)Platform
- Meta (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Threads)Platform
- ITVBroadcaster
BroadcasterTechnology platformAll newspapers, print and online: 44%
Large online platforms reach more people with news than newspapers combined. Broadcasters and publishers still make much of that news. Reach does not show trust or influence.
United Kingdom · Fieldwork November 2025 to March 2026 · Survey-based
Show the workings — Meta reaches more adults with news (51%) than all newspapers combined (44%); the BBC reaches the most (77%)
Share of UK adults who saw or heard news on each provider in the past month, across its services. Respondents use several providers, so the bars do not add up.
The BBC still reaches the most adults with news (77%). Google (60%) and Meta (51%) each reach more people with news than all newspapers in print or online combined (44%). Most of what they carry is made by publishers and broadcasters; what changes is who chooses which stories a person sees. Reach alone does not show that platforms change minds — that needs different evidence, set out below.
- Geography:
- United Kingdom — Adults aged 16+ (base 5,397)
- Measure:
- Per cent of adults (0–100%)
- Period:
- Fieldwork November 2025 to March 2026
- Status:
- Survey-based
- Calculation:
- As published: BBC and ITV from Figure 8 (reach through their own services); Google and Meta from Figure 9 (online intermediary brands); newspapers in print and/or online from Figure 1 and data Table 359. Only the two largest broadcasters and two largest intermediaries are shown.
- Compare with:
- All newspapers combined, print and online: 44%
- Not included / breaks:
- Reach counts anyone who saw or heard news from a source at all; it is not time spent, trust or influence. Platforms mostly distribute other organisations’ journalism. Ofcom changed its question and fieldwork in 2026 (past month rather than “nowadays”; more online interviews; passive use included), so these figures are not directly comparable with its earlier surveys.
Source: Ofcom, News consumption in the UK 2026 — research findings, Figures 1, 8 and 9; adult data tables, Table 359 (released 15 September 2026).
View the data as a table
| Provider | Type | Reach (% of adults) |
|---|---|---|
| BBC (TV, radio and online) | Broadcaster | 77 |
| Google (Search, YouTube, News, Gemini) | Platform | 60 |
| Meta (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Threads) | Platform | 51 |
| ITV | Broadcaster | 50 |
Can people trust the news they encounter?
In the Reuters Institute’s 2026 UK online survey, 30% agreed that most news can be trusted most of the time. This is public opinion about news, not an assessment of whether particular reporting is accurate.
Annual data: Trust in most news
The published series starts in 2015; no comparable 1996–2014 observations are supplied. From 2021 the sample includes people who report no news use in the previous month, previously excluded. No change is calculated across this break. A dash means no comparable observation is supplied; it is not zero. UK adults 18+ in separate annual online samples; not the same individuals followed over time.
1996–2026; % agreeing. No change is calculated across definition or assessment breaks.
| Year | Trust (%) |
|---|---|
| 1996–2014 | No comparable observations supplied |
| 2015 | 51 |
| 2016 | 50 |
| 2017 | 43 |
| 2018 | 42 |
| 2019 | 40 |
| 2020 | 28 |
| 2021 | 36 |
| 2022 | 34 |
| 2023 | 33 |
| 2024 | 36 |
| 2025 | 35 |
| 2026 | 30 |
Survey questions, samples and comparison limits
Ofcom 2026: UK adults aged 16+, November 2025–March 2026; 5,397 interviews (3,718 online-panel, 1,679 face-to-face), effective weighted sample 4,288. D1–D22 ask which named media people saw or heard news on in the last month. Multiple selections overlap. Quotas and weights cover age, gender, geography, social class, urbanity, working status, ethnicity and internet use. Ofcom tests differences at 99%; its approximate tolerance at 50% is ±2 percentage points for the full effective sample, not every subgroup. E3 trust ratings use each platform’s news users: TV 4,077; radio 2,716; print 1,404; social/video 2,927. Recall, panel selection and mixed-mode effects remain. Changed questions, passive-use prompts and continuous fieldwork mean no direct comparison with 2025. Technical report.
Ofcom 2025: UK adults 16+, 4,573 respondents; 5 November–6 December 2024 and 3–28 March 2025. Mixed online and face-to-face quota samples; demographic, nation and mode weights. C1 asks which platforms people use for news “nowadays”. Age-chart bases are 585 aged 16–24 and 472 aged 75+. Ofcom uses effective samples and 99% significance tests; small subgroup differences are not precise rankings. Attention estimates also use industry audience measurement and are not simply survey reach. Technical report.
Reuters Institute 2026: YouGov online non-probability panel, UK adults 18+, sample 2,052; main fieldwork mid-January–end February 2026. Age, gender, region and education quotas; weights use census/accepted population targets. Trust is agreement with “I think you can trust most news most of the time”; it measures opinion. This design has no conventional polling margin of error; differences of two points or less warrant particular caution. Older and less affluent offline populations are under-represented. Since 2021 people reporting no news use in the previous month are included: earlier years excluded them, creating a small composition break. Method and questionnaire.
Who controls the outlet, and who controls the route to the reader?
Ownership and distribution are different layers of power — regulated in different ways
Left lane: who owns or controls major news outlets (documented control). Right lane: who runs the platforms that distribute news (documented distribution role). Rows are not sized: there is no measured “influence score”.
Lane 1 — Who owns the outlet
Arrow = documented ownership or control
Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, Metro, the i Paper
Controlled by: DMG Media → Daily Mail and General Trust (private) → Rothermere family interests
Rules: Press: IPSO (voluntary); no impartiality duty · Evidence: Company filings; DMGT taken private 2022
The Sun, The Times
Controlled by: News UK → News Corporation (US-listed); voting control with the Murdoch Family Trust
Rules: Press: IPSO; Times undertakings on editorial independence (1981) · Evidence: Company filings
Daily Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph
Controlled by: Axel Springer group; acquisition confirmed complete 30 June 2026
Rules: Press: IPSO · Evidence: Acquirer’s completion announcement; historical CMA case is a separate record
Daily Mirror, Daily Express, Daily Star
Controlled by: Reach plc (listed; no controlling shareholder)
Rules: Press: IPSO · Evidence: London Stock Exchange listing
BBC News
Controlled by: BBC Board under Royal Charter; licence-fee funded
Rules: Broadcast: Ofcom, due impartiality · Evidence: Royal Charter
ITV News; Sky News
Controlled by: ITV plc (listed); Comcast (US-listed)
Rules: Broadcast: Ofcom, due impartiality · Evidence: Company filings
Lane 2 — Who runs the route to the reader
Arrow = controlling shareholder of the platform; the platform distributes others’ journalism
Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp
Controlled by: Meta Platforms (US-listed); founder holds majority voting control
Rules: Online Safety Act Category 1; not covered by media ownership or impartiality rules · Evidence: Ofcom register; news reach 51% (Ofcom 2026)
Google Search, Google News, YouTube
Controlled by: Alphabet (US-listed); founders hold majority voting control
Rules: YouTube Category 1; Google Search Category 2A · Evidence: Ofcom register; news reach 60% (Ofcom 2026)
X
Controlled by: Privately held (Elon Musk interests)
Rules: Online Safety Act Category 1 · Evidence: Ofcom register
TikTok
Controlled by: ByteDance group
Rules: Online Safety Act Category 1 · Evidence: Ofcom register; 11% used it for news in Ofcom’s 2025 survey, up from 1% in 2020
Ownership rules, impartiality duties and press self-regulation all apply to the left lane. The right lane — where six in ten adults now find news — is regulated for online safety, not for plurality or impartiality. A platform does not write the stories, but its ranking system chooses which ones each user sees. Ownership is evidence of who could exercise control; it is not, on its own, evidence of how control is used.
From reach to influence: how far the evidence goes
Recommendation algorithms now pick much of the news people see, they are built to maximise engagement, and UK law regulates them for harm rather than for what they choose to show. That much is well evidenced. Whether they change what people believe or how they vote is much less certain. Each step below needs its own evidence; strength at one step does not carry to the next.
1Strong (official survey)
Platforms reach a large share of the news audience
73% of adults saw news through an online intermediary (social media, search, aggregators or AI tools) in the past month, and intermediaries take 37% of daily news time; social media and video platforms alone take about as much as TV.
2Moderate (regulator evidence and large observational studies)
Engagement-ranked feeds favour some content over other content
Ofcom’s own guidance says recommender systems “may amplify hateful content if they are optimised for user engagement”. A study of 2.7m US posts found language about political opponents was the strongest predictor of sharing.
Ofcom, Illegal harms: risk assessment guidance and risk profiles (December 2024); Rathje, Van Bavel and van der Linden, “Out-group animosity drives engagement on social media”, PNAS 118 (2021)
3Strong (randomised experiment, US)
Changing the feed changes what people see and how long they stay
Switching Facebook and Instagram users to a chronological feed during the 2020 US election substantially changed their exposure and time on the platform.
4Limited and contested
Feeds change political attitudes or votes
The same experiment found no measurable change in polarisation or political knowledge over three months. UK evidence is thinner: after the 2024 Southport attack Ofcom said virality and algorithmic recommendations helped spread false claims, but how far that spread caused the disorder that followed is disputed.
Guess et al., “How do social media feed algorithms affect attitudes and behavior in an election campaign?”, Science 381 (2023); Ofcom, letter from Dame Melanie Dawes to the Secretary of State on the Southport disorder (22 October 2024)
What UK law does and does not require of platform feeds, the research behind each step, and the Southport case are set out in How platforms distribute news.
Also in this section
- Proprietors and access — what the ministerial meetings record shows, and its limits.
- Publishers and party funding — donations by media companies, drawn from the national donations data.
Why it is happening
Our analysis
Online platforms choose which stories many people see. Protecting access to reliable news must also protect free expression and independent reporting.
Who is affected most
Who feels this most?
Survey-based evidence
Ofcom News Consumption SurveyReported news use; audiences overlap and survey editions may differ.
For whom are platforms the main route to news? (2025 survey)
Among 16–24s, Meta reaches more people with news (56%) than the BBC (52%)
MetaBBC
- Aged 16–2456%
- All adults 16+39%
- Aged 75+11%
Young adults are much more likely to get news through social media than older people. This makes the choices made by online feeds particularly important for younger audiences.
United Kingdom · 2025 fieldwork · Official estimate (survey)
Show the workings — Among 16–24s, Meta reaches more people with news (56%) than the BBC (52%)
Cross-platform news reach of Meta (filled dot) and the BBC (open dot), by age group, UK, 2025.
The platform shift is generational. Three-quarters of 16–24s use social media for news, and Meta outreaches the BBC in that group; among over-75s the BBC reaches 83% and Meta 11%. Use of social media for news is also higher in Scotland (57%) and lower in Northern Ireland (46%) than the UK average (51%). Younger audiences therefore depend most on feeds whose selection is least regulated.
- Geography:
- United Kingdom — Adults 16+; age groups 16–24 (base 585) and 75+ (base 472)
- Measure:
- Per cent of each age group
- Period:
- 2025 fieldwork
- Status:
- Official estimate (survey)
- Calculation:
- As published in Ofcom’s 2025 text; intermediate age groups are not stated in the text and are not shown. Ofcom’s 2026 report does not publish Meta’s reach by age, so this chart stays on the 2025 survey and is not comparable with the 2026 figures above.
- Compare with:
- All adults
Source: Ofcom, News consumption in the UK: 2025 — research findings, Figures 2 and 5; key findings (released 21 July 2025).
View the data as a table
| Group | Meta (%) | BBC (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Aged 16–24 | 56 | 52 |
| All adults 16+ | 39 | 67 |
| Aged 75+ | 11 | 83 |
What could change
Proposals to consider. The bodies named below would need to agree to deliver them; responsibility is not a recorded commitment. Follow the links for costs and evidence.
Controls on what feeds amplify
Examine controls on the content that online feeds promote.
Who could deliver it: Researchers, platforms and regulators; government/Parliament for legal changes.
Main trade-off and delivery needs
Expression/privacy risks; unintended engagement and exposure effects.
Specify ranking intervention and trial agreement; independent researcher access, consent/privacy safeguards and meaningful outcomes; separate later regulation.
Cost: The extra cost is not yet known.
Costs, drawbacks and evidence →
See all options and what is still unknown →
Some problems have no assessed solution yet: see coverage and gaps.
Domain SWOT
Recorded
Show the findings
Strengths · 2 findings
Public-service news still has the widest reach: the BBC reaches 77% of adults with news, more than any platform or publisher.
United Kingdom · Fieldwork November 2025 to March 2026
An established model of shared local reporting already exists: the BBC funds up to 165 Local Democracy Reporters, employed by regional news organisations, to cover councils and public services.
United Kingdom · Scheme running since 2017
Weaknesses · 4 findings
Ofcom opened an investigation into Meta’s risk assessments for Instants. Commenced safety duties are not proof of compliance or reduced harm; the investigation had not established a breach.
United Kingdom · 6 October 2026
Reach, trust and influence are different things: Meta reaches 51% of adults with news, more than newspapers’ 44%, while only 30% of UK respondents trust most news most of the time.
United Kingdom · Ofcom fieldwork November 2025 to March 2026; Reuters Institute 2026
The 10 largest platforms are regulated for online safety; duties on news publisher content and content of democratic importance are not yet in force — Ofcom’s consultation on them closed on 2 October 2026 and its decisions are pending — and no UK rule covers the plurality of what feeds select.
United Kingdom · As at 4 October 2026
Opportunities · 2 findings
Short prebunking material improved recognition of manipulation in US experiments and, in video and text form, the effect lasted about a month — a skill a UK pilot could test.
Depends on: A pre-registered UK pilot with a comparison group shows better discernment, not just more scepticism, at follow-up.
our synthesis
Contestable, arm’s-length support for local reporting is being tried elsewhere (Ireland, from January 2026) and could be tested here against the BBC scheme.
Depends on: Coverage gaps are mapped first and the administrator is independent of government.
our synthesis
Threats · 2 findings
Literacy effects fade without reinforcement, and warnings can breed indiscriminate distrust of accurate news.
risk
Public or platform funding for journalism can create real or perceived influence; in Ireland trust in news fell in the same year new support was announced, so support alone cannot be assumed to raise trust.
risk
Domain action plan
Proposed
Possible steps for government and the bodies responsible. These describe the order of work, not promised dates: starting an action and seeing results take different amounts of time.
Short term · prepare
Make ownership, reach and the limits of the evidence clear.
Medium term · deliver
Assess the linked transparency and plurality proposals.
Long term · judge results
Check whether access to reliable, varied information improves.
Delivery steps and owners (4)
- Prerequisite: Pre-register the literacy pilot; map local coverage gaps · Commissioning body with an independent evaluator; DCMS or an independent researcher · proposed
- Decision: Commission a pilot and choose an independent administrator for any local-reporting awards · Ofcom or an education department; DCMS · proposed
- Delivery: Run the pilot with a comparison group; make time-limited awards · Delivery partner; independent administrator · proposed
- Result: Retention and discernment after a month or more; additional original local reporting against comparison areas · Independent evaluators · proposed
Sources, method and changes
Shareable visual summary
Visual summary
Almost six in ten under-35s get most of their political news from social media. Among over-55s, fewer than one in twelve do.
In British Social Attitudes 2024, 58% of 16 to 34s said social media is their main source of political news, against 8% of those aged 55 and over. Across all adults, television (31%) and social media (27%) are the two most common main sources; the survey cannot separate them, because their margins of error overlap. People rate news on social media as the least reliable (32% reliable), yet those who rely on it most rate it more highly. A separate Ofcom survey (UK adults, news seen or heard in the past month, a different measure) reports news use through Meta among 51% of adults, compared with 44% using newspapers, though platforms often carry journalism made by newspapers and broadcasters. Three publishers sell 90% of national newspapers. Reported news use in the past month (fieldwork Nov 2025–Mar 2026); audiences overlap, so these do not add up. Ofcom says the 2026 survey is not directly comparable with 2025.
Saw or heard news in the past month, UK adults, Nov 2025–Mar 2026 (separate measures; they overlap)
- Meta (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Threads)51%
- Newspapers, in print or online44%
- BBC (its own services)77%
Ofcom, News consumption in the UK 2026. Reach is reported use, not trust, persuasion or market share.
Text and data version
Almost six in ten under-35s get most of their political news from social media. Among over-55s, fewer than one in twelve do. In British Social Attitudes 2024, 58% of 16 to 34s said social media is their main source of political news, against 8% of those aged 55 and over. Across all adults, television (31%) and social media (27%) are the two most common main sources; the survey cannot separate them, because their margins of error overlap. People rate news on social media as the least reliable (32% reliable), yet those who rely on it most rate it more highly. A separate Ofcom survey (UK adults, news seen or heard in the past month, a different measure) reports news use through Meta among 51% of adults, compared with 44% using newspapers, though platforms often carry journalism made by newspapers and broadcasters. Three publishers sell 90% of national newspapers. Reported news use in the past month (fieldwork Nov 2025–Mar 2026); audiences overlap, so these do not add up. Ofcom says the 2026 survey is not directly comparable with 2025.
| Measure | Value | Period | Geography | Type | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meta (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Threads) | 51% | Nov 2025–Mar 2026 | United Kingdom | survey estimate | Ofcom, News consumption in the UK 2026: Figures 1, 8 and 9; adult data tables, Table 359 |
| Newspapers, in print or online | 44% | Nov 2025–Mar 2026 | United Kingdom | survey estimate | Ofcom, News consumption in the UK 2026: Figures 1, 8 and 9; adult data tables, Table 359 |
| BBC (reach through its own services) | 77% | Nov 2025–Mar 2026 | United Kingdom | survey estimate | Ofcom, News consumption in the UK 2026: Figures 1, 8 and 9; adult data tables, Table 359 |
Available images and their source records are listed on Shareable visuals.
Sources and methods (10)
- Ofcom, News consumption in the UK 2026 — research findings, Figures 1, 8 and 9; adult data tables, Table 359 (released 15 September 2026) — news reach of Meta, Google, the BBC, ITV and newspapers; intermediaries and attention (headline, MEDIA-01, evidence ladder)
- Ofcom, News consumption in the UK: 2025 — research findings, Figures 2 and 5; key findings (released 21 July 2025) — news reach by age and attention shares, 2025 survey (MEDIA-03); not directly comparable with 2026
- Ofcom, Register of categorised services (Online Safety Act 2023) (released published 30 June 2026, last updated 28 September 2026) — Category 1 platforms and the duties still in consultation
- DSIT and DCMS, Online Safety Act: explainer (released updated 24 April 2025) — what the Online Safety Act requires on algorithms and misinformation
- Reuters Institute, Digital News Report 2026 — United Kingdom (released 16 June 2026) — trust in news, UK 2026
- Ofcom, Media plurality — scope of the media ownership rules
- CMA, Daily Mail and General Trust plc / Telegraph Media Group merger inquiry — Historical DMGT–Telegraph public-interest review; page remains labelled open
- Axel Springer, completed Telegraph acquisition (released 30 June 2026) — Completed ownership transaction, distinct from the historical inquiry
- Guess et al., “How do social media feed algorithms affect attitudes and behavior in an election campaign?”, Science 381 (2023) — randomised experiment on feed algorithms (US, 2020)
- Rathje, Van Bavel and van der Linden, “Out-group animosity drives engagement on social media”, PNAS 118 (2021) — what content drives sharing (US, observational)
Method notes
- Reach, ownership, trust and influence are separate measures with separate sources and are never combined into a score.
- Ofcom reach figures are reported use by UK adults 16+; online figures are subject to recall error, which Ofcom itself highlights. Ofcom’s 2026 survey asks about news seen or heard in the past month, uses more online interviews and counts passive use, so Ofcom says it is not directly comparable with 2025; the site shows no change between the two. Reuters Institute figures come from an online panel survey and are not directly comparable with Ofcom’s.
- This site does not publish a bias rating. It records dated editorial endorsements, regulators’ rulings and trust surveys because each can be checked against a primary record; content-analysis methods exist and are cited where a study is used.