TikTok is the fastest growing social media app in Canada — but least trusted: report
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Loading... - Jayden Moore
- 20 Mar 2023
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TikTok is experiencing the fastest rate of growth among Canadians, but is also the least trusted social media platform in the country, a new report said.
The research published Thursday by Toronto Metropolitan University showed the short video app has nearly tripled its reach since 2019 with 29 per cent of survey respondents on the app, up from 10 per cent.
However, trust levels for social media platforms declined significantly from 2021, with just one in 10 Canadians having high trust in such apps. Trust in TikTok was particularly low, falling so far that the app replaced Facebook as Canada’s least trusted social media organization.
Sam Andrey, director of policy and research at the Leadership Lab at Toronto Metropolitan University, attributed falling faith in the apps to a succession of scandals. At Facebook, there was the 2018 Cambridge Analytica data debacle and allegations suggesting the company had a role in electing Donald Trump as U.S. president and encouraging Brexit.
Meanwhile, Twitter courted its own controversy with Elon Musk, who took over the app last year, rapidly see-sawing on policy matters and angering advertisers and users.
“The controversy around TikTok and the Chinese parent ownership and where our data is going … has been swirling for awhile, so I think that’s breaking through in the Canadian consciousness,” added Andrey.
His research was based on an online survey of 2,022 Canadians above the age of 16 conducted in October, months before the federal and provincial governments banned TikTok from its employees’ phones as tensions with China intensified. Read More…
