Study: People older than 65 share the most fake news on Facebook

Philadelphia (WTXF) - Researchers from Science Advances have found that users older than 65 are more likely to share articles from fake news sources on social media. On average, those users were seven times more likely to share fake news than other users of Facebook.

The study observed the behavioral responses of 3,500 participants. Over 90 percent of Facebook users did not share fake news.

However, the study found that compared to even the next closest age group, those older than 65 were more than twice as likely to have shared fake news.

They were between three and four times as likely to share fake news than the youngest age groups that participated in the study.

"No other demographic characteristic seems to have a consistent effect on sharing fake news, making our age finding that much more notable," researchers wrote.

While researchers don't have a definitive answer, they believe that a lack of digital literacy may be a reason behind the disparity.