While social media has admittedly helped create millions of connections between people all over the world, the rise of social media platforms has also led to an increase in the creation and circulation of false information, especially over the past decade.
We have to recognize the apps hosting the false information before we can truly understand how far the information can spread.
The popularity of platforms like TikTok, Snapchat, and Instagram has dramatically increased since 2020 — according to a study done by Pew Research Center in 2025, 37% of adults state that they use TikTok regularly, which shows a dramatic difference from the recorded 21% from 2021. Additionally, platforms like Facebook recorded that 81% of adults use the app regularly.
Age is another factor in social media usage — young adults from 18-29 are more likely to use apps like TikTok and Snapchat, while older adults over 65 are more likely to use Facebook regularly. All of this to say, social media has laid its foundation in our lives, and it has gotten to a point where the idea of living without it seems incomprehensible.
Why is this important? It demonstrates that the vast majority of people frequently use social media. Over the past five years, social media has come to replace news channels — in today’s age, it’s easier to hit up the TikTok search bar or find an article on Facebook about news than it is to turn on the TV.
This can especially be attributed to the rise of streaming services; now that traditional television has taken the backseat, people are more inclined to turn to free social media applications for their news rather than paying for mountains of subscriptions or cable. Additionally, social media’s popularization of short-form videos to appease short attention spans has taken over the minds of both young adults and older generations.
One example of misinformation being spread online comes from the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, which elevated the use of TikTok substantially. TikTok was just beginning to become popular around this time, and with the onslaught of new users came the chance for content creators to capitalize on a little bit of false advertising.
It was around this time that creators started posting about false treatments for the COVID-19 virus. The National Library of Medicine details some trends that were particularly popular in 2020, which included “holding your breath for ten seconds” as a self-determining COVID-19 test, as well as “eating boiled garlic or drinking chlorine dioxide” to cure the virus.
These were not real methods of treating COVID-19, but because the information was easily accessible in short formats during a time of utter social isolation, people took the words of internet strangers as truth. The National Library of Medicine detailed how social media formats outperformed television and credible news sources, especially for young adults, during the pandemic — this trend has only increased exponentially.
The use of “clickbait” or “engagement bait” is widespread — the influence of misinformation has carried into acts as innocent as popular trends to serious matters like elections and global affairs.
Of course, not all news that is spread on social media is fake, and the connections that can be made through social media can be positive and certainly have given online users safe spaces and platforms to express themselves openly.
However, the lack of social media literacy and the public’s ability to differentiate between what is a credible source and what is not has seriously decreased over time, and despite all of the great things social media has brought us, the misinformation pandemic is not one of them.
It is important to educate ourselves on media literacy and the difference between real and fake news, especially in an age where artificial intelligence and global turmoil is becoming more and more prevalent. When you see news on a social media platform, check to see if their are valid sources linked; additionally, check to see if other valid news programs are reporting the same facts.
As a society, we should all make sure to report fake news as soon as we can identify it; additionally, we should do our best to stay informed and practice fact-checking information we obtain through social media.
The best thing to do is to simply do your research, be mindful, and to not believe everything you see on the internet.
Fake news, disinformation and misinformation in social media: a review – PMC
Americans’ Social Media Use 2025 | Pew Research Center
