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  • Sep, 2020

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    Future usage of online news

    Q. If the legislation is introduced and news content was removed from Facebook and Google, how likely would you do the following to search and read news articles?

      TOTAL: Likely TOTAL: Unlikely Very likely Quite likely Not that likely Not at all likely
    Go directly to news websites to read content 75% 25% 37% 38% 15% 10%
    Continue to use Google and Facebook and read less news 69% 31% 26% 43% 19% 12%
    Use alternative platforms to Facebook and Google to find and read news articles (such as Twitter, LinkedIn or Reddit) 53% 47% 22% 31% 24% 22%
    Use the Apple News aggregator 37% 63% 14% 22% 27% 36%

     

      Total Age Group Frequency of news consumption on social media
    TOTAL: LIKELY 18-34 35-54 55+ At least daily At least once a week Less than once a week Never
    Go directly to news websites to read content 75% 70% 81% 73% 84% 77% 62% 46%
    Continue to use Google and Facebook and read less news 69% 67% 76% 63% 77% 72% 60% 39%
    Use alternative platforms to Facebook and Google to find and read news articles (such as Twitter, LinkedIn or Reddit) 53% 61% 64% 37% 64% 50% 42% 25%
    Use the Apple News aggregator 37% 42% 49% 20% 42% 42% 29% 11%
    Base (n) 1,076 326 365 385 570 239 149 118
    • The majority of people would use alternative sources such as direct content (75%), other social media platforms (53%) or Apple news (37%) if social media platforms stopped offering free news contents as part of their service.
    • However, 77% of daily Facebook and Google users said they are likely to continue to use the platforms, but read less news.
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