In France, under-25s are turning to social media and AI for news 📰🤖

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In France, social media, video platforms, and artificial intelligence tools are becoming go-to sources of news for a growing share of the population. According to a recent survey by media regulator Arcom, 54% of people under 25 now say these platforms are their primary way of keeping up with current events.

This shift isn’t limited to younger audiences. Across all age groups, one in five French citizens now relies first on so-called “algorithmic media” to stay informed.

Algorithmic media take the lead 📲🎥

For decades, television, radio, and print journalism dominated the French news landscape. And they’re far from obsolete: Arcom’s study, conducted online between June 16 and July 23, 2025, shows that 62% of French people still primarily get their news from traditional media outlets.

But a parallel ecosystem is clearly emerging—especially among younger generations. Social networks, video platforms, and conversational AI now form a self-contained information environment. News travels faster, more directly, and often in bite-sized formats. Short videos, clips, livestreams, comment threads, and AI-generated summaries increasingly replace the habit of reading a full article.

Among 15- to 25-year-olds, the trend is even more pronounced. For more than half of them, these platforms are now the first point of contact with the news. In practical terms, that means the day’s headlines often arrive via a TikTok feed, a YouTube recommendation, or a chatbot’s answer—rather than a news homepage.

Why AI and social platforms worry traditional media ⚠️🗞️

The growing influence of platforms isn’t just about changing habits—it’s about changing access. Chatbots, in particular, are reshaping the traditional news journey. Where users once searched, clicked, and read, they now ask a question and receive an instant response.

According to research cited in the Arcom report, generative AI poses “major risks” for news organizations. The issue is structural: AI tools rely heavily on online content—including journalism—to generate answers. But when users get summaries or explanations directly from an AI interface, they often never visit the original media outlet.

Less traffic means less revenue. Subscriptions suffer, advertising income drops, and overall visibility declines. Over time, the risk is that AI becomes a powerful intermediary between newsrooms and audiences, capturing attention—and value—before it ever reaches publishers.

This shift, then, is about far more than evolving consumption habits. It signals a deep transformation of the information economy, forcing media organizations to rethink distribution, value creation, and their relationship with readers.

👉🏾 Where do you get your news first—TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, or an AI chatbot?