Researchers from Princeton University and New York University analyzed the Facebook posts of nearly 1,200 people who agreed to share their data in the aftermath of the 2016 US presidential election. They then compared links the respondents had shared on Facebook with several lists -- including one compiled by BuzzFeed -- of websites known to share false information. The study, published in Science Advances, found less than only 8.5% of respondents shared a link from one of these websites. However, those that did tended to be older and self-identified as being on the conservative end of the political spectrum. Although the study found that Republicans shared more fake news than Democrats, and ideologically, conservatives shared the most fake news stories -- this could be due to the fact that most fake news articles produced during the 2016 presidential campaign favored US President Donald Trump.

Source: Dhaka Tribune January 10, 2019 03:53 UTC