1 million Dutch read news on socials, but few trust it

A report by the Dutch Media Authority (Commissariaat voor de Media) has revealed up-to-date figures about how social media is changing the way people in the Netherlands consume news.

Where do the Dutch get their news?

According to the 2026 Digital News Report by the Dutch Media Authority, social media channels are the main place 33 percent of 18 to 34-year-olds in the Netherlands go to find out what is happening in the news, up from 20 percent in 2018. 

In total, over one million residents in the Netherlands, or 7 percent of the population, go first to social media to get their news, rather than directly to the websites, programmes and podcasts of news publishers.

At the same time, people in the Netherlands are increasingly concerned about mis- and disinformation. In 2018, 30 percent of people in the country were concerned about mis- and disinformation on social media platforms, which are largely not held responsible for content published on their sites. In 2026, this figure has grown to 51 percent.

Only 12 percent of the population trusts news found on social media or cited by AI chatbots. “It’s a paradox: news on social media is not trusted, yet social media is becoming increasingly important for news consumption,” the Dutch Media Authority wrote in its report.

Current situation puts “democratic opinion forming” at risk

Speaking to NOS, Sanne Kruikemeier, Professor of Digital Media and Society at Wageningen University, said that young people “rely on the news coming to them rather than going looking for it themselves” and scrolling means they are “less focused in their search”.

Researchers concluded that major international social media and internet companies, namely Meta, Google and Bytedance, are “becoming the gatekeepers of the news and determine what people do and do not get to see”, whether it be quality news, misinformation or disinformation.

At the same time, there is a general decline in trust in the news, concerns about mis- and disinformation and an “increasing tendency to avoid news altogether”. The commission said it considered all of these to be “worrying developments” which put “democratic opinion forming” at risk.

What has the commission suggested?

The commission made three suggestions about how to “protect a diverse, independent and reliable media landscape”. 

These are: making news more relatable and easier to understand for young audiences; maintaining impartial news reporting and keeping news factual; and “actively encourage or enforce democratically healthier feeds” with legislation and regulations.

Head to the Dutch Media Authority's website to read the full Digital News Report 2026 (in Dutch).