On the other hand, findings also showed that trust in news across global markets fell to 40 per cent from 42 per cent, reversing the gains made in many countries at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Finland remains the country with the highest levels of overall trust with 69 per cent, while Greece has the lowest at 19 per cent following arguments about press freedom and the independence of the media, the report showed.
MOST USED ONLINE NEWS SOURCE
Alternative news site Mothership became the most used online news source for the first time, although the Reuters report noted that it “still lags” in brand trust with a score of 52 per cent.
CNA’s website came in second in terms of weekly use, followed by The Straits Times online.
Online and social media continue to be the most common ways of accessing news in Singapore, while both TV and print have declined significantly over the last few years.
On social media apps, the report said: “Facebook continues to face a decline (36 per cent), while YouTube (30 per cent), Instagram (19 per cent) and TikTok (12 per cent) were able to grow as platforms for news. WhatsApp remains the most used social app for news (38 per cent).”
Associate Professor Edson Tandoc Jr and Matthew Chew from the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information at Nanyang Technological University, who wrote Singapore’s portion of the digital news report, noted TikTok’s growing popularity in the country and elsewhere.
“It reaches 49 per cent of 18 to 24 (year olds) every week, and 22 per cent for news according to our survey,” they said, adding though that this is not without controversy.
“Public officials have been reminded they are not permitted to install the app on official devices, and it has been added to the list of social media companies that are required to have formal processes and systems for dealing with misinformation, under the country’s Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA).
“This includes transparency over political advertising.”
The Singapore government announced in March that public officers are allowed to use TikTok on government-issued devices only on a “need-to basis” under existing policy, such as for communication officers.