The Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2025 shows the news landscape continuing to change at pace across the world. Based on YouGov data from almost 100,00 across 48 markets, the report is an annual in-depth study into news consumption habits.
Among a wealth of findings, this year’s report shows:
- Further movement to video and social platforms
- Widespread fears about trustworthiness of news
- Belief that AI will make news cheaper but less trustworthy
Learn more about the YouGov data behind the Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2025
Further movement to video and social platforms
Across the world, dependence on social media, video platforms and online aggregators has increased while engagement with more traditional media forms – including print, TV and online news sites – has fallen.
For example, in the United States – where the data was collected just after Donald Trump’s inauguration in January 2025 – social media use increased notably year-on-year (up six points), overtaking TV for the first time. The data finds there was not a similar uplift for traditional sources.
Widespread fears about trustworthiness of news
Across all markets surveyed, more than half of respondents (58%) are concerned about being able to tell the difference between what is true from what is false with regards to online news – a similar level to 2024. Fears are highest in the United States and Africa (both 73%) where social media use is high but are notably lower in Western Europe (46%).
Consumers are split on whether social media companies should remove content that is legal, but which may be seen as false or harmful. Britons and Germans are the most likely to say too little is being removed, but in America, the picture is more nuanced, with those on the left believing too little is being taken down while those on the right think the opposite.
Belief that AI will make news cheaper but less reliable
Consumers in most countries are sceptical about AI being used in news and prefer it when humans remain part of the process. A look across net scores in 37 markets finds the public believe that while AI will make news cheaper to make (+29) and more up to date (+16), they also think it will make it less transparent (-8), less accurate (-8), and less trustworthy (-18).
For the first time, the report asked about AI chatbots in the news space as their use increases across search engines and other platforms. Currently only 7% use chatbots for news each week, with numbers being much higher among the under-25s (15%). The most mentioned AI service for news is ChatGPT, followed by Google’s Gemini and Meta AI (although these figures could be higher as many consumers do not always know when they are using Gen AI).
Learn more about the Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2025
