The Reuters Institute’s 2026 Digital News Report found that social media has become the top daily news source, ahead of TV and news sites.
The report, based on more than 85,000 people across 48 markets, shows people are relying more on discovery inside social apps to find news. TikTok and Instagram are gaining influence as news sources, while X’s role appears to be declining, according to the report.
At the same time, 62% of respondents said they were concerned about misinformation online.
The risk here is that if more people are getting their news through social feeds, algorithms and creators have more power over what stories people see and how they understand them. That creates more space for potential misinformation or selective framing to skew facts.
Here’s what else is new this week.
How are TikTok Lives changing?
TikTok is tightening its rules for shopping livestreams by banning non-real-time audio.
Creators and sellers can’t use AI-generated voices or pre-recorded audio in TikTok Shop Lives. TikTok says livestream hosts should communicate with viewers in real time, either verbally or through sign language, and that streams relying on AI voices or recordings will be “treated as non-compliant.”
How is YouTube changing its mobile UI?
YouTube is simplifying its mobile UI, moving the Remix button into the Share menu, which will clear up space under the video while keeping the same Remix tools available. YouTube says this should make the mobile viewing experience feel cleaner and easier to navigate.
The platform is also updating its channel membership pricing. Creators in the YouTube Partner Program can offer membership tiers up to $500 per month in the U.S., and YouTube says pricing updates have been rolling out gradually.
What is Ask Pinterest?
The platform is also testing Ask Pinterest, an experimental app for AI-powered shopping and planning. This will help with more complex, visual searches, like planning a dinner party or furnishing a room over time. This feature is only launching in the U.S. right now.
Pinterest is expanding its Performance+ ad tools for small and midsize businesses with two new updates. The first is Performance+ new customer acquisition, which lets advertisers upload or define their existing customers, assign a higher value to new customers and have Pinterest’s system target people likely to be new buyers. Pinterest said early tests showed advertisers using the feature saw a 64% average increase in new customer conversions.
The second update is for Shopify merchants. Eligible sellers can now launch a Pinterest Performance+ shopping campaign from Pinterest Ads Manager or directly through Pinterest’s Shopify integration using prebuilt templates. The idea is to get a shopping campaign live faster, with less manual steps for setup, Pinterest says.
Pinterest is also rolling out several AI tools, all focused on how people discover and shop as search becomes more conversational.
The biggest updates are:
- Business Assistant, an AI helper for advertisers in Ads Manager
- Pinterest MCP, which connects Pinterest campaign and analytics data to outside AI tools
- Performance+ creative tools that use AI to pick the best ad variation for each impression
What’s included in Snapchat’s AI update?
Snapchat has new AI ad tools that should make campaign building, production, shopping and creator partnerships easier.
The first is Snap Smart Assistant, which lets advertisers describe their goals and then recommends campaign objectives, audience strategy and optimization settings. Snap is also opening its ads platform to outside AI tools so advertisers can connect Snapchat data to tools they’re already using.
The second is AI Sponsored Snaps, which lets brands use AI agents in Snapchat’s Chat feature to answer questions and recommend products.
Dynamic Product Ads are also getting smarter product recommendation models. Using this feature, advertisers can turn one product image into multiple different ad formats, create assets for vertical video, turn images into short videos and improve product backgrounds.
Snap is also launching Snap Creator Network, an AI-powered creator marketplace that helps brands find creators based on audience, category or campaign goals.
How can skillsets show up more clearly on LinkedIn?
LinkedIn is expanding how connected apps appear on profiles. Members can connect apps like HubSpot, Descript, Duolingo, Lovable and Replit, and those apps can generate a short description of what the person does with them. So instead of saying “uses HubSpot,” a profile might say the person uses the app to create marketing automation. The description is based on a user’s real app activity, updates as usage changes and can’t be edited by the member.
LinkedIn says the change will make profiles more credible by showing proof of real skills rather than just a list of tools.
They’re also continuing to modify their brand kit feature inside Campaign Manager. It now lets advertisers set brand rules, including colors, fonts and brand voice, so ads stay more consistent.
LinkedIn says it will automatically build a brand voice using details from a company’s LinkedIn presence, such as past content or its company page. Advertisers can also edit the suggested brand kit or create one manually.
The platform also enabled GIFs for comments, which just provides another way to interact with users.
Courtney Blackann is a communications reporter. Connect with her on LinkedIn or email her at [email protected].
