Apps and websites owned by Alphabet and Meta account for half the time UK adults spend online, according to the latest Online Nation report from Ofcom. In May 2024, UK adults spent an average 2 hours 4 minutes per day on the duopoly’s apps, including YouTube, Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram.
The research comes one year on from Ofcom’s expanded remit into online safety, under the Online Safety Act. It focused on online harms encountered on these platforms, flagging social media as the most common service where online harms were reported. While Facebook was the most likely service on which adult users encountered a potential harm, children were more likely to see harms on TikTok and YouTube.
In harm’s way
Misinformation remained the most prevalent potential harm, with 39 percent of 13+ users encountering online misinformation in June 2024. Meanwhile 30 percent of users reported seeing content that made them feel uncomfortable, upset or negative in June 2024, up from 27 percent in June 2023. And hateful, offensive or discriminatory content also increased to 26 percent, up from 23 percent in June 2023.
There was also divergence in the type of potential harms encountered by teenage boys and girls. Boys were more likely to be surfaced content showing dangerous stunts, whereas girls faced more harms relating to body image, as well as receiving unwelcome friend or follow requests and misogynistic content.
On a brighter note, users reported more frequent efforts from services to verify their date of birth, reflecting progress in restricting adult content from reaching children and teenagers. However, 20 percent of 8-15 year-olds still have a user age of 18+ on a social media platform, suggesting these efforts need to go further.
Rise of the machines
The report also tracked consumption of other major online services. Reddit overtook X (formerly Twitter) and LinkedIn to become the fifth highest-reaching social platform among adults, reaching 48 percent of UK adults in May 2024. The number of UK adults using X fell to 22.2 million in August 2024, down from a monthly average of 27.9 million in 2021. And TikTok now reaches 74 percent of 18-24-year-olds, according to Ofcom, who spend an average 64 minutes per day on the app.
On the retail side, Amazon remained the highest-reaching online retailer, visited by 35 percent of UK adults each day in May 2024. And for search, Google saw a 3 percent drop in reach in May 2024, but remains the most popular search engine at 83 percent of UK online adults.
The study also highlighted increased traction for generative AI, with 41 percent of 16+ users saying they have used a gen AI tool in the past year. ChatGPT was the most popular gen AI tool, used by 33 percent of 16+ users in the past year. According to Ofcom, the chatbot was more commonly used by UK males (50 percent) than females (33 percent).
