Despite Facebook's efforts to stop the spread of fake news, the massive social media service is still rife with it: In 2019, the top 100 fake news stories on Facebook were viewed over 150 million times -"enough to reach every registered voter at least once," according to Avaaz, the non-profit that did the study.
In 2019, many Facebook users saw news posts that claimed President Donald Trump's grandfather was, "a pimp and tax evader," and that his father was a member of the KKK -none of which is true.
Facebook's 2 billion-plus users also had access to a post claiming that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez proposed a ban on motorcycles (she didn't), and that House speaker Nancy Pelosi was diverting Social Security funding for the Trump impeachment inquiry (she wasn't).
These are just a few of the most-shared political fake news stories of 2019, according to a new study from the non-profit Avaaz. The top 100 fake news stories on Facebook in 2019 were viewed over 150 million times -"enough to reach every registered voter at least once," according to the report.