WASHINGTON: Facebook users aged 65 plus and conservatives are more likely to share fake news on the platform than younger or more liberal counterparts, according to a new study published Wednesday.
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 percent 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.
In fact, users over 65 — regardless of political affiliations — shared “nearly seven times as many articles from fake news domains” as 18 to 29-year-olds, the youngest age group studied.
“No other demographic characteristic seems to have a consistent effect on sharing fake news,” the authors reported.
“It is possible that an entire cohort of Americans, now in their 60s and beyond, lacks the level of digital media literacy necessary to reliably determine the trustworthiness of news encountered online,” they suggested.
The authors also suggested the impact of aging on memory could have an effect.
“Under this account, memory deteriorates with age in a way that particularly undermines resistance to “illusions of truth,” they wrote.
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.
“Had the slant of fake news been pro-Clinton instead of pro-Trump, it is possible that more liberals than conservatives would have shared this content,” the authors wrote in a Washington Post op-ed.
Facebook has been hammered for failing to stop information manipulation and misinformation, including from Russian organizations during the 2016 US election.
Its leaders have promised more transparency in hearings in the US Congress and elsewhere, and the network has stepped up efforts to find and root out fake accounts and foreign influence campaigns.
Older people, conservatives more likely to share fake news: study
Older people, conservatives more likely to share fake news: study
- The authors also suggested the impact of aging on memory could have an effect
Paris exhibition marks 200 years of Le Figaro and the enduring power of the press
- The exhibition celebrated the bicentennial of Le Figaro, offering visitors a rare opportunity to step inside the newspaper’s vast historical archive
PARIS: One of France’s most influential newspapers marked a major milestone this month with a landmark exhibition beneath the soaring glass nave of the Grand Palais, tracing two centuries of journalism, literature and political debate.
Titled 1826–2026: 200 years of freedom, the exhibition celebrated the bicentennial of Le Figaro, offering visitors a rare opportunity to step inside the newspaper’s vast historical archive. Held over three days in mid-January, the free exhibition drew large crowds eager to explore how the title has both chronicled and shaped modern French history.
More than 300 original items were displayed, including historic front pages, photographs, illustrations and handwritten manuscripts. Together, they charted Le Figaro’s evolution from a 19th-century satirical publication into a leading national daily, reflecting eras of revolution, war, cultural change and technological disruption.
The exhibition unfolded across a series of thematic spaces, guiding visitors through defining moments in the paper’s past — from its literary golden age to its role in political debate and its transition into the digital era. Particular attention was paid to the newspaper’s long association with prominent writers and intellectuals, underscoring the close relationship between journalism and cultural life in France.
Beyond the displays, the program extended into live journalism. Public editorial meetings, panel discussions and film screenings invited audiences to engage directly with editors, writers and media figures, turning the exhibition into a forum for debate about the future of the press and freedom of expression.
Hosted at the Grand Palais, the setting itself reinforced the exhibition’s ambition: to place journalism firmly within the country’s cultural heritage. While the exhibition has now concluded, the bicentennial celebrations continue through special publications and broadcasts, reaffirming Le Figaro’s place in France’s public life — and the enduring relevance of a free and questioning press in an age of rapid change.
