Reddit surpasses TikTok as the fourth most-visited social media service in the UK, likely driven by changes to Google's search algorithms and AI deals
Platform is now Britain's fourth most visited social media site as users seek out human-generated content
Context & Ripple Effects
Reddit’s move into fourth place extends momentum already visible when Ofcom counted 22.9 million UK adult Reddit visitors in May 2024, a 47% year-over-year increase that put it fifth, ahead of X and LinkedIn.
The reversal matters because TikTok had established a strong UK position in both daily use and news discovery, including as the leading news source among UK 12- to 15-year-olds. The current shift ties Reddit’s audience growth to Google referral changes, AI-data arrangements, and demand for human-generated discussion.
First-order effects
- Reddit gains a stronger UK audience position and greater leverage with advertisers, creators, and partners as it moves ahead of TikTok in visits.
- TikTok loses relative ranking in a market where it has been a major destination for younger users and news consumption.
Second-order effects
- Google’s search-ranking choices become more consequential for social platforms whose discussion pages can capture search-led traffic; Reddit has a direct incentive to preserve that visibility.
- TikTok and other social services face added pressure to demonstrate value beyond search referrals and to retain users seeking discussion-led, human-produced material.
Third-order effects
- If search increasingly routes users toward forum-style material, social-media competition may be shaped as much by web discovery as by in-app feeds and follower graphs.
- The cited role of Reddit’s AI deals points to a broader feedback loop: platforms with large stores of human conversation can monetize that content as AI input while using the resulting attention to reinforce their position.
The trend: Social platforms are becoming more tightly linked to search distribution and the economic value of human-generated archives as AI systems seek training and reference material.