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Nicholas Stephenson |
Published 23 August 2025
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Onward and Merlin Strategy polling finds that 18-34 year olds trust social media more than newspapers and that newspapers have net negative trust among all age groups.
We also find that young people engage much more with news and through a much wider variety of sources than older generations. When asked how often they used certain sources to get the news, 18-34 year olds reported higher overall usage than older age groups for every source, including GB News and the Daily Mail, based on those who said they used each source at least monthly.
This briefing will be divided into four sections. Each section will include two charts: the first will show how frequently each source is used to access news by age group, and the second will show trust levels in each news category, also by age group.
A key driver of young people’s increased engagement with news across a wider range of sources is likely the result of the rise of social media. Platforms such as Twitter / X, Facebook and Instagram act as news aggregators meaning that young people likely engage with traditional sources, such as newspapers and broadcast new channels, indirectly through social media channels.
Chart 1. Percentage of British people who use social media sources to get the news at least monthly, by age.
Facebook is the most popular social media platform among both the 35-54 and 55-65+ age groups and is tied for first with Instagram and YouTube among 18-34 year olds. However, on a daily basis, Facebook is the only social media platform that 18-34 year olds use less than 35-54 year olds (24% vs 28%).
While all social media platforms see a decline in usage with age, YouTube experiences a much more gradual drop-off compared to Instagram, X / Twitter, and TikTok, which all show a sharp dropoff in usage among older age groups. Instagram stands out as the only platform that over 50% of 18-34 year olds use on a daily or near-daily basis.
Chart 2a. Net trust[i] of British people in social media, by age.
Chart 2b. Trust of British people in social media, by age.
There is a significant age gap in trust toward social media platforms in general: while 18-34 year olds report a modest net trust of +7%, older generations are overwhelmingly distrustful. Among those aged 55+, net distrust reaches -56%, with over half of those giving an opinion saying that they distrust social media platforms “a lot”.
Chart 3. Percentage of British people who use newspapers to get the news at least monthly, by age.
The Daily Mail’s lead among older readers, 10% among 35-54 year olds and 8% among those aged 55+, means that it pips The Guardian to the number one spot in our poll . The Guardian leads among younger readers, with 38% of 18-34 year olds reading it to get their news on a daily or near-daily basis, although the same metric still puts it comfortably below all of the social media sites in total engagement terms
Chart 4a. Net Trust of British people in newspapers, by age.
Chart 4b. Trust of British people in newspapers, by age.
In contrast with the high variance in trust of social media, newspapers have net negative trust among all age groups. While younger people are marginally more trusting of newspapers, levels of trust are mostly consistent across age groups.
Chart 5. Percentage of British people that use TV news to get the news at least monthly, by age.
Television remains the dominant medium for older generations. This is evident from the fact that over 50% of 55-65+ year olds use BBC News to get the news daily, compared to just 23% of 18-34 year olds. Younger people engage with TV news more overall, but less frequently, with most tuning in every few days or weekly.
Although BBC and ITV remain dominant, especially among older viewers, Channel 4 performs relatively well among the young, and Sky sees stronger engagement from 35-54 year olds.
Chart 6a. Net trust of British people in TV news, by age.
Chart 6b. Trust of British people in TV news, by age.
Television news sources are the only category that has net positive trust among all age groups. Older viewers are generally more trusting than younger viewers, though overall trust levels remain fairly consistent across age groups.
Chart 7. Percentage of British people who use podcasts to get the news at least monthly, by age.
Finally, podcasts have received a lot of attention over the past few years, with claims that “podcast bros” were key to Trump’s 2024 election success. However, while their overall levels of engagement are high, few tune into podcasts daily as they do with social media. This likely reflects a preference for following a favourite weekly podcast rather than listening to multiple shows.
It is clear that the way we engage with news is changing. While young people are increasingly turning to social media for news updates, this shift hasn’t sidelined traditional outlets. In fact, it may be boosting engagement, as young people increasingly access these sources through platforms like Instagram and X, which act as de facto news aggregators. This also exposes them to a wider range of perspectives, likely leading to greater trust in social media, through which they access a range of perspectives, than in traditional newspapers.
Additionally, although younger generations access more news overall, certain sources are frequented more by older generations. 51% of those aged 55 and over still use the BBC daily, and more 35–54-year-olds rely on Facebook for news each day than 18–34s. YouTube, TikTok, X / Twitter, and Instagram, however, are heading up the digital frontiers of news for younger generations with nearly a third using them daily to get their news.
[i] Net Trust is calculated by adding up the % of people who said that they “Trust [the source] a lot” and “Trust a little” and then subtracting it from the sum of the % of people who said that they “Distrust [the source] a lot” and “Distrust a little”
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