About half of Americans use Instagram, and the site is especially popular among younger adults and teens. In addition to being a space for social connection and other functions, Instagram serves as a source of news and information for some: 16% of U.S. adults said last year that they regularly get news there.
Our survey looks at U.S. Instagram users’ experiences with getting news. Among the key findings:
- Three-in-ten Instagram users say they regularly get news on the platform, and one-third say getting news is a reason they use it. But most Instagram users encounter news on the platform in some form – often as opinions or funny posts that reference current events.
- Friends, family and acquaintances are the most common news source on Instagram. Among Americans who regularly get news on Instagram, 72% say they ever get news from friends, family and acquaintances there. About two-thirds of Instagram news consumers get news from news outlets or journalists (65%).
- There is little difference in views of news on Instagram between the two major political parties (in contrast with Facebook, which is also owned by Meta). About a quarter of news consumers of both parties (28% of Republicans and 24% of Democrats) say they often see news on Instagram that seems inaccurate, and similar portions of both parties think the platform influences which news stories they see a lot.
How people get news on Instagram
Three-in-ten U.S. Instagram users say they regularly get news on the platform, lower than the share of users on X (formerly Twitter), TikTok and Facebook who are regular news consumers on each site.
And two-thirds of Instagram users say getting news is not a reason they use Instagram, while a third say getting news is either a major (8%) or minor (25%) reason.
Read more: Reasons for using Instagram
But most Instagram users report seeing news-related content, regardless of whether they specifically turn to the platform for news.
For instance, 73% of Instagram users say they ever see funny posts that reference current events on the site, and two-thirds report seeing people expressing opinions about current events. About half (52%) say they ever see news articles – whether from posts, reposts, links or screenshots – and just under half (44%) see information about a breaking news event as it’s happening on Instagram.
What sources people get news from on Instagram
Americans who say they regularly get news on Instagram are seeing news from a variety of different sources on the platform.
Among these Instagram news consumers, 72% say they ever get news from friends, family and acquaintances, 65% get news from news outlets or journalists, and 59% get news from influencers or celebrities.
About half of Instagram news consumers report getting news from advocacy groups or nonprofits (52%). Aside from these sources, 64% say they ever get news from other people they don’t know personally.
Views about news on Instagram
Inaccurate information
A majority of Instagram news consumers say they see information that seems inaccurate on the site at least sometimes (76%), including a quarter who report seeing inaccurate information extremely or fairly often.
Views by party
Perceptions about inaccurate information on Instagram do not differ significantly by party affiliation. Roughly a quarter of Republicans and independents who lean toward the GOP (28%) as well as Democrats and Democratic leaners (24%) say they often see news that seems inaccurate on Instagram.
Instagram’s influence on the news users see
About seven-in-ten Americans who regularly get news on Instagram (72%) say they think the platform influences which news stories they see there at least somewhat. This includes 27% who say Instagram influences the news they see a lot and 45% who say Instagram exerts some influence.
Roughly a quarter of Instagram news consumers (27%) say the site doesn’t influence the news content they see much or at all.
Views by party
Again, there are virtually no partisan differences in perceptions of Instagram’s influence on news stories. Similar shares of Republican (29%) and Democratic (26%) news consumers say they think Instagram influences the news stories they see a lot.
Instagram as a source of unique news
When asked whether the news on Instagram is unique or available elsewhere, 21% of Instagram news consumers say the news they get on the site is mostly news they would not have gotten elsewhere.
On the other hand, 34% say the news they get on Instagram is mostly news they would have seen somewhere else if they didn’t use Instagram. About four-in-ten news consumers (43%) say the news is an even mix of these two things.
Feeling worn out by news on Instagram
Among Americans who regularly get news on Instagram, nearly two-thirds (64%) say they at least sometimes feel worn out by the news they see on the platform, including 17% who feel this way extremely or fairly often.
Instagram news consumers who see at least some political content (i.e., posts about politics or political issues) on Instagram are much more likely than others to feel worn out at least sometimes by the news they see on the site (73% vs. 53%).
