Jordan Peterson on media: what the evidence says · JRE #1769
SUBJECT: MEDIA
Not a true/false call. Every claim is logged with its sources; read the exhibits below.
then I looked at the YouTube stats, and 70% of people who listened to YouTube were males
What the evidence says 01 / RECORD
Peterson claimed that YouTube statistics showed 70% of the platform's listeners/viewers were male. Pew Research Center, which has tracked U.S. social media platform usage by demographic group since 2012, reports that YouTube usage is nearly even by gender: in its most recent survey wave (fielded February to June 2025), 86% of U.S. men and 83% of U.S. women say they use YouTube, a roughly even split rather than a 70/30 skew. No widely cited industry or research source has reported a 70% male audience share for YouTube overall; global platform figures compiled from sources like Statista have similarly shown gender splits closer to 55/45 in most years. Peterson's own audience may skew disproportionately male, but the premise that this reflects YouTube's overall user base being 70% male is not supported by available demographic data. The claim is assessed as false based on the best available evidence.