Social Media, News and You: How Young Adults Receive Their News

By Bree Mallory

After the U.S. Department of Justice’s release of files related to the federal investigation of the late sex-trafficker Jeffrey Epstein earlier this year, posts circulated online claiming that Lifetouch, a yearbook company, was involved in sending children’s school pictures to sex traffickers. 

Paige Chapman, PhD., Flagler’s Communications department chair and assistant professor, said a student brought this rumor up in one of her classes and, after doing some research, realized it was false. While it is true that a man linked to Lifetouch was mentioned once, it was not for that reason.

“Wherever they got the information, it was removed from the context of what the files said about that organization,” Chapman said.

In 2018, MIT researchers found that inaccurate news tends to spread 10 times faster than factual news on the internet because it elicits more of a reaction from the audience. 

Rachel Cremona, PhD., associate professor of political science & international studies, worries about how algorithmically chosen news will create more problems in the future with how people take stands on issues.

“It forces you to become more polarized,” she said.

According to a Pew Research Study conducted in Dec. 2025, only 15% of US adults ages 18-29 say that they follow news all or most of the time. Seventy-six percent of US young adults the same age say that they get news from social media at least sometimes.

With social media’s increase in popularity, it is easier than ever for everyday people to release unvetted information to the public. While this can be good in some ways, it can also make finding true information much more difficult. 

“I do have concerns about [social media as news],” Chapman said. “Mostly because I don’t think the regular audience has a high level of media literacy, so I don’t think they’re questioning the things they see.”

Cremona agrees.

“I think we could do better with media literacy,” she said.

If this is true, then why do young adults seem to primarily seek out news from social media? A large issue among students seems to be what they feel is the prominent bias that some traditional sources seem to have. 

“Lately, I’ve stopped trusting news such as CNN and CBS because of possible bias,” said Flagler freshman Piper Lundquist. “I get most of my news on social media because of this.”

However, according to Chapman, a little bias in the news is not all that bad.

“A lot of people who like to complain about the news say: ‘I wish the news would just give us the information and not try to spin it,’” Chapman said. “But sometimes that spin is really just extra context you need to know to understand the story.”

While the slow phasing out of traditional news media among younger generations might seem frightening, not all young adults rely solely on social media for news. In fact, many Flagler students seem to understand the flaws of relying on news from social media or from a single source.

“Distinguishing between factual reporting and misinformation is increasingly difficult,” said freshman Scotland Williams, who gets news from both social media and online newspaper outlets. “My process usually involves cross-referencing stories on Google- if I can find multiple credible sources reporting the same information, I feel more confident that it’s legitimate.”

Junior Taylor Lieberman has similar thoughts.

“I believe all forms of news are subject to faults and that it is important to get your information from multiple sources,” Lieberman said.

For students looking for ways to incorporate more trustworthy sources into their news diets, AllSides, a website offering news from multiple perspectives, may be the place to turn, according to Cremona. Their CEO, John Gable, was on campus recently and told students that their mission is to provide schools with the technology to help students.

“I am optimistic about the younger generation because I don’t think they’re ignorant of what’s happening,” Cremona said. “I just think they’re frustrated.”