Fact-Check: Is TikTok Really More Watched Than YouTube? Verify the Claims
TikTok has more users than YouTube
✗ FalseYouTube leads with 2.7 billion monthly active users compared to 1.59 billion for TikTok. Despite TikTok's rapid growth, YouTube maintains a larger user base of approximately 70% more users.
TikTok users spend more daily time on the app than YouTube users
✓ TrueGlobal average daily time on TikTok is 95 minutes versus YouTube's roughly 54 minutes per day. TikTok users indeed spend approximately 41 more minutes daily on the platform than YouTube users.
Deepfakes and AI-generated images are impossible to detect 100% of the time
✓ TrueCurrent deepfake detection technologies have limited real-world effectiveness. Experts confirm that even specialists struggle to distinguish fake content from authentic, especially as generation techniques advance rapidly.
The majority of TikTok users are women
✗ FalseCurrent data shows 54.5% of TikTok's global users are male versus 45.5% female. There has been a reversal in gender distribution in recent years as the platform shifted from female-oriented to more balanced or male-leaning usage.
90% of social media content is fake
？ UnverifiedThere are no reliable statistics on the actual percentage of fake content online. While experts acknowledge that significant amounts of fake content circulate, without precise data this claim remains unverified.
Major social media platforms automatically ban all deepfakes and fake content
⚠ MisleadingPlatforms make efforts to detect fake content but not automatically 100% of the time. Different standards apply, and some fake content circulates before detection. Facebook, YouTube, and X have begun labeling AI-generated content, but complete detection remains a major challenge.
TikTok is the fastest-growing social media platform
◑ PartialTikTok showed notable growth (74.6% in one year) but its growth rate is slowing compared to previous years. Other platforms like Bluesky and RedNote show higher relative growth in shorter periods, but by total scale, TikTok remains one of the fastest-growing major platforms.
Major mainstream media outlets actively spread deepfakes and AI-generated conflict content
✗ FalseEvidence shows fake content primarily spreads through social media, not mainstream media outlets. Claims that major media actively distributes deepfakes lack reliable supporting evidence. While some actors make such claims, actual investigations have not substantiated them.
Contradictory claims circulate about user consumption across social media platforms. Many confuse user count with watch time and total hours spent. Here we examine several common claims about TikTok and YouTube, and the impact of fake content on these platforms.
