Group says misinformation on the rise on Facebook

An vocacy group tracking misinformation says it has found an increase in fake political news shared on Facebook ahe of 2020 presidential elections.

group, Avaaz, said Wednesday that it found that viral misinformation is still being spre on social network despite measures Facebook has put in place since 2016 elections. researchers tracked 100 most widely shared false news stories between Jan. 1 and Oct. 1 this year. stories y tracked h all been fact-checked and debunked by Facebook’s third-party fact-checking partners, which include Associated Press.

group found that, collectively, fake stories were posted more than 2.3 million times and h an estimated 158.9 million views, along with 8.9 million likes, comments and shares. false stories targeted both political parties, though Avaaz says majority were against Democrats and liberals.

Most of false news sources were individual users or n-official political ps. Avaaz, a left-leaning online vocacy group, said stories it found spreing even after y were debunked included one falsely claiming that President Donald Trump’s grandfar was a pimp and a tax ever and that his far was a member of Ku Klux Klan. That story h an estimated 29 million views. Ar story falsely claiming that Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar attended an al-Qaeda training camp h an estimated 770,000 views.

Facebook did t immediately respond to a request for comment on report late Tuesday.

Avaaz said in report that findings are “tip of iceberg of disinformation” ahe of 2020 elections.