Earlier this summer, a Google executive acknowledged that TikTok was eating into its core Search business, particularly among younger users. But that's no longer all that TikTok is being used for, a new study by the Pew Research Center indicates. A report obtained its findings about Americans' use of social media for news consumption. The report indicates that 33% of those who use TikTok now say they regularly get their news on the social video app, up from just 22% in 2020.

While this is not a comprehensive list, nearly every other social media site saw declines across that same metric—including, in particular, Facebook, where now only 44% of its users report regularly getting their news there, down from 54% just two years ago.

This information indicates that TikTok has matured from just being a source of entertainment for lip syncs and dances or only comedy and, nowadays, into a source many of its users look to in order to learn about what's happening in their world.

That raises red flags in itself, given TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, is based in China — something it was recently forced to answer questions about in a Senate hearing on national security. The hearing followed the publication of a BuzzFeed News report that demonstrated how ByteDance employees in China had continued to access private data of U.S. users on TikTok.

If TikTok becomes one of the primary means by which America's young people learn what is going on in the world, then it might become the subtle access avenue through which a foreign power could shape the perceptions of users with regard to information.

Meta, TikTok, YouTube and Twitter dodge questions on social media and national security

For now, though, news consumption isn't something TikTok does much of-over social media, at least. Facebook still keeps its crown.

Pew reports 31% of U.S. adults report regularly getting their news from Facebook-which outpaces the 25% getting their news from YouTube, the 14% getting it from Twitter, or the 13% getting it from Instagram.

The social media app TikTok ranked fifth, according to this ranking, since only 10% of American adults said they get their news regularly on the video app. (Of course, when TikTok's sizable user base of those under the age of 18 grows up, these metrics could quickly change.)

LinkedIn (4%), Snapchat (4%), Nextdoor (4%), WhatsApp (3%) and Twitch (1%) were much smaller sources of news among Americans, the study also found.

In addition, Pew somewhat lent credibility to Google's claim it had fallen behind TikTok and other social media apps by pointing out that the share of U.S. adults who said they often got their news via web search had declined from 23% in 2020 to 18% in 2022.

But it did not necessarily point to TikTok or any other social platform as gaining, as the percentage of adults often using social media of any sort to get news fell from 23% to 17% between 2020 and 2022, as did other forms of news consumption like news websites and apps.

It's also unclear that any one platform is gaining from these losses since Pew didn't find evidence that people shifted from digital news sources to others, such as TV, print, or radio—all of those saw declines in news consumption as well.

Still, digital devices remain well ahead of TV, Pew said, as the latter's use of it often for news consumption has declined from 40% in 2020 to 31% in 2022.

And when asked about preferences, more Americans said they'd prefer to get their news digitally than on TV or the radio, or in print - 53% to 33% to 7% and 5%, respectively - an answer that has stayed consistent since 2020.

He adds that Instagram, TikTok are 'eating' into Google's core products, Search and Maps.