Hamburg, June 16, 2026<\/p>\n
News consumption via social media is increasing: 36 percent of German internet users now access news through various social media platforms. AI chatbots continue to play only a minor role in news consumption as a source of news, with five percent of respondents reporting that they use them. Overall, interest in news remains high despite a slight decline. Both the share of people who consume news several times per week (90%) and have a general trust in news (46%) remain stable. These are findings from the Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2026, for which the Leibniz Institute for Media Research in Hamburg is responsible for the German sub-study. Overall, the study is based on responses from nearly 100,000 participants across 48 countries on six continents. The survey in Germany was conducted in January 2026.<\/p>\n
The internet is the most important source of news. Sixty-seven percent of the adult online population in Germany consume access news online at least once a week. Social media is the online news source with the widest greatest reach: 36 percent encounter news there. Social media is particularly important for 18- to 24-year-olds, with 60 percent using social media for news. The most relevant platforms for news consumption are WhatsApp, YouTube, and Facebook. Among 18- to 24-year-olds, Instagram stands out in particular: 85 percent use the platform generally in general, and 52 percent also use it for news.<\/p>\n
The importance of social media as the main source of news (18%) has reached a new high. However, it is still predominantly used as a supplement to other news sources. Only among the youngest age group studied (18- to 24-year-olds) does social media play a particularly important role overall news use. For 17 percent of them, social media is the only source through which they encounter news content. Looking at long-term trends since 2017, 2026 shows an increase in the relevance of social media as a pathway to news across all age groups, both as a regularly used source and as the source considered most important.<\/p>\n
AI chatbots continue to play only a secondary role as a regular means of accessing news. Five percent of respondents say they used a generative AI chatbot during the previous week to inform themselves about news. Users most frequently use AI chatbots to ask questions about news topics (48%). In addition, about one in four ask AI to make a topic easier to understand (28%), summarize a topic (27%), or find or contextualize a news source (25%). According to their own reports, most users only sometimes click on the original sources cited by AI in its responses (38%).<\/p>\n
Thirteen percent of respondents encounter news through influencers who mainly or occasionally deal with news topics. Among 18- to 24-year-olds, the figures are 30 and 28 percent respectively. Of those who consume content from news influencers who primarily focus on news topics, one in ten says that all of their news needs can be satisfied in this way. Regardless of whether respondents use news influencers as a source of information or not, news influencers are more likely than traditional news media to be perceived as entertaining or easier to understand. Only eleven percent of respondents consider news influencers more trustworthy than traditional media.<\/p>\n
News broadcasts on linear television are regularly watched by 59 percent of respondents; among 18- to 24-year-olds, this figure is 32 percent. Thirty-four percent of all respondents regularly listen to news on linear radio, and 17 percent read printed newspapers or magazines. Looking at long-term trends since 2013, there has generally been a decline in the reach of news on linear television, radio, and print products. However, this decline has softened somewhat in recent years, and overall genre-based usage behavior has stabilized.<\/p>\n
Trust in news remains stable. Forty-six percent of respondents believe that most news in Germany can generally be trusted. General trust is lowest among 18- to 24-year-olds, where only 37 percent agree with this statement. Trust is somewhat higher when respondents consider the news sources they personally use regularly (58%).<\/p>\n
Trust in both AI-generated news and news on social media remains low: only 13 percent trust news in either of these environments. This places trust in AI and social media significantly below trust in search engines (24%). Among selected established news brands, ARD Tagesschau, regional or local newspapers, and ZDF heute rank highest in trust. Notably, young adults (18\u201324 years old) place greater trust in public-service brands ARD and ZDF than the average population.<\/p>\n
Almost two-thirds of respondents prefer news sources that do not promote a particular opinion. Significantly smaller shares prefer news that reflects their own views or deliberately challenges them. Across various topics, the quality of reporting is generally assessed as neither clearly positive nor clearly negative. Coverage of migration and immigration is rated particularly critically, while reporting on the war in Ukraine receives the most positive evaluations among the topics compared.<\/p>\n
Nearly half of respondents express concerns about being able to distinguish facts from false information in online news. This represents a clear increase compared with 2024 and 2025, when 42 percent agreed with this statement in both years. These figures have risen across all age groups.<\/p>\n
Seventy-two percent of respondents avoid news at least occasionally (2025: 71%). Since this question was first asked in 2017, active news avoidance has generally increased across all age groups. Importantly, news avoidance does not mean that no news is consumed at all. Rather, it usually manifests in temporarily ignoring certain news topics (for example crisis reporting) or avoiding news at certain times of day.<\/p>\n
Since 2012, the Reuters Institute Digital News Survey has annually examined general trends and national differences in news consumption through representative surveys in what has now grown to 48 countries. Coordinated by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, based in Oxford (UK), the study is conducted simultaneously in Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, Denmark, Germany, Finland, France, Greece, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Canada, Kenya, Colombia, Croatia, Malaysia, Morocco, Mexico, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Austria, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, Switzerland, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Spain, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, the Czech Republic, Turkey, Hungary, and the United States.<\/p>\n
Approximately 2,000 people were surveyed in each country in 2026. In its 14th edition, the study is based on responses from nearly 100,000 participants from 48 countries across six continents. Key thematic focuses in the 2026 survey wave included news influencers and the handling of original sources in news encountered through social media, search engines, and AI-generated responses.<\/p>\n
Fieldwork in Germany was conducted by the survey institute YouGov between January 9 and January 22, 2026, using online access panels to draw samples representative of internet users aged 18 and older in participating countries. \u201cRepresentative\u201d means that the sample reflects the structure of the internet-using population with regard to age, gender, region, and education, or is weighted accordingly. In interpreting the results, it should generally be taken into account that sampling through online access panels may somewhat overestimate internet affinity and social web usage. The standard error of the reported figures generally falls within a range of one to three percent.<\/p>\n
The Leibniz Institute for Media Research | Hans-Bredow-Institut has served as the cooperation partner responsible for the German sub-study since 2013, supported by the state media authorities (Landesmedienanstalten), ZDF, and ARD.<\/p>\n
The German sub-study can be downloaded from June 16, 2026 here: https:\/\/doi.org\/10.21241\/ssoar.110516<\/a>.<\/p>\n The international English-language report is available at: https:\/\/reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk\/<\/a><\/p>\nContact<\/h2>\n