Seniors Share More Political Falsehoods

In an era where social media serves as both town square and newsroom, a new study reveals a surprising pattern in political misinformation sharing. Adults aged 55 and older are significantly more likely to spread political falsehoods online than their younger counterparts—not because they’re less capable of distinguishing fact from fiction, but because they’re more partisan.

The Research Behind the Claim

The finding comes from researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder, who published their work in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. Led by Leaf Van Boven, professor in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, and Guilherme Ramos of the Rochester Institute of Technology, the study examined nearly 2,500 participants across the United States and Brazil.

“We found that older people are more likely to believe as true and to share information that aligns with their party, whether that information is true or not,” said Van Boven, highlighting the core finding of their research.

Methodology and Key Findings

The researchers presented participants with news headlines related to political events in their respective countries. Some headlines favored conservative ideologies, others liberal positions, and unbeknownst to participants, some had been previously flagged as false by fact-checking organizations.

Examples of the deliberately false headlines included claims like “Pope Frances shocks world and endorses Donald Trump for President” in the U.S. and “Bolsonaro wants to cut 25% of civil servants’ salaries” in Brazil.

The study found striking differences:

During the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Facebook users over age 65 shared almost seven times more fake news than adults under 30
On Twitter, 80% of fake news was shared by users over age 50
The research found no evidence that older adults are less able to think analytically or distinguish fake from real news

Beyond Cognitive Decline: The Partisanship Factor

Contrary to previous assumptions linking misinformation sharing to age-related cognitive decline, this research points to partisanship as the real driver. “They had different standards of evaluating evidence depending on whether it reflected well on their side or not,” Van Boven explained.

The study revealed that older adults tend to approach information with what researchers call “knee-jerk partisan fashion”—accepting and sharing content that supports their preferred candidates while treating similar content from the opposing side with skepticism, regardless of factual accuracy.

A Pattern Across Borders

Interestingly, this pattern held true not just in the United States’ two-party system but also in Brazil, which has approximately 30 political parties. “This suggests that the two-party system is not necessarily the issue here,” noted Ramos. “People in Brazil behave in the same partisan way.”

This cross-cultural consistency strengthens the researchers’ argument that partisanship, rather than specific political structures, drives misinformation sharing behaviors.

Social Media Landscape and User Demographics

To understand the significance of these findings, it’s essential to examine social media usage patterns among older adults. While platforms like TikTok skew heavily toward younger users, Facebook maintains substantial adoption among the 55-plus demographic.

As of September 2023, 29% of Facebook users in the United States were aged 50 to 64, making this group one of the platform’s largest demographics
Despite Facebook’s slower growth rate compared to newer platforms, it remains the most popular social network in terms of daily user engagement
Alternative platforms appealing to specific political ideologies continue to attract niche audiences concerned with free speech

The concentration of older adults on mainstream platforms like Facebook means their partisan sharing behaviors have significant reach in the information ecosystem.

Implications for Combating Misinformation

The study’s findings suggest that traditional approaches to combating misinformation—focused on helping people distinguish truth from fiction—may be insufficient.

“Our study suggests that it is equally important to encourage people to behave in a less politically partisan way when they are communicating on their social networks,” said Van Boven.

Expert Recommendations

Beyond the CU Boulder study’s suggestions, experts from organizations like the Pew Research Center emphasize:

Promoting media literacy education to improve critical evaluation skills across all age groups
Encouraging social media platforms to implement more sophisticated fact-checking mechanisms
Fostering environments where users maintain connections with people holding different political views
Developing technological solutions that can identify and flag potentially misleading content before it spreads widely

Ramos emphasized the importance of maintaining diverse social networks, recommending that people resist the urge to “unfriend” those with whom they disagree politically. “As someone who studies political polarization, I am very much in favor of inter-group contact. It’s critical for a healthy democracy that we can talk to and have friends who think differently.”

Moving Forward in a Divided Information Landscape

These findings highlight the complex intersection of age, partisanship, and social media behavior. The older adults sharing misinformation aren’t intentionally trying to deceive—they’re operating within deeply ingrained partisan frameworks that affect their judgment.

This realization has profound implications for how we approach misinformation as a society. Rather than simply dismissing older social media users as easily fooled, we need to understand the psychological mechanisms driving their information-sharing behaviors.

The challenge extends beyond individual behavior modification to systemic issues with how social media platforms algorithmically distribute content. As demonstrated by ongoing research into platform design, both user networks and algorithmic filtering contribute to the spread of misinformation.

Ultimately, addressing this issue requires a multifaceted approach that combines better digital literacy education, improved platform design, and perhaps most importantly, efforts to reduce political polarization itself—a goal that extends far beyond social media policy but inevitably influences our digital discourse.