Americans over 65 more likely to share fake news, study says

Americans over the age of 65 are more likely to share fake news on Facebook, researchers say.

According to the CNN, a news study analysing Facebook users' posts during the 2016 US presidential election identified people over the age of 65 as the age group that shared the most fake news links and articles. 

The study, published in the Science Advances peer review journal, was based on Facebook activities of the respondents, including shared posts and external links. 

According to The Guardian, Facebook users in the US over the age of 65 shared articles from fake news domains seven times more than people aged between 18 and 29. 

The research involved 1,750 American adults assessing links they had posted with lists of fake news publishers.

The list of fake news publishers was compared to a list of fake news websites compiled by BuzzFeed such as the Conservative State and Winning Democrats.  

According to the Guardian, the more conservative the Facebook user, the more fake news articles they shared, considering that most fake news stories were pro Donald Trump during the election period.

Eighteen percent of Republicans shared at least one fake news article while only 4% of Democrats shared fake news links.