Online

 According to DataReportal on Internet and Social Media Use in Lebanon 2022, the number of internet users in Lebanon in January was 6.01 million, which was equivalent to 89.3 percent of the Lebanese population. As a result, online media and news in Lebanon have grown massively. According to the report, the number of social media users at the beginning of the year reached 5.06 million people, which was equivalent to 75.2 percent of the population of Lebanon. The report also stated that the percentage of social media use in Lebanon increased by 15.8 percent between 2021-2022. 

YouTube ranked first with 5.06 million users, followed by Facebook with 3.15 million users, then Instagram with 2.20 million users, Facebook Messenger with 1.85 million users and Snapchat with 1.10 million users.

Electronic media, along with citizen media, played a major role in covering and producing the news during the October 17, 2019 uprising. The demonstrators themselves ensured direct media coverage by using technologies, websites, and applications related to social media, or publishing breaking news of different groups all over Lebanon. WhatsApp became the actual link among them. In addition, independent platforms played an important role in giving a wider coverage to various human rights topics and issues that concern marginalized groups. The top news websites in Lebanon belong to, or mirror, the same political parties that own the country’s traditional media. The same political agendas reflected in traditional media also exist online. Thanks to digitization, Lebanon’s residents have access to a variety of news platforms, from 24-hour cable and satellite channels to Internet sites and text message services. But this wide range of available media outlets does not translate into a greater plurality of opinions. Many new sources simply replicate the voices expressed through traditional media. Nevertheless, in 2024, the rise of independent alternative media, largely relying on social media platforms to broadcast and publish their news in an accessible digitalized manner, has changed the landscape of how many social groups, particularly youth, receive and consume news.