Why are older adults more likely to share misinformation online? - Harvard Gazette

"Older adults tend to do well at identifying falsehoods in experiments, but they're also likelier than younger adults to like and share misinformation online. That paradox was at the heart of a recent lecture as part of the Misinformation Speaker Series at the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy. The answer, according to Ben Lyons, a University of Utah communications assistant professor who studies media, politics, and misinformation, is partisanship and congeniality bias, essentially the tendency to seek out and believe information that supports pre-existing views while avoiding and dismissing conflicting data."

""Older adults show a lot more congeniality bias," said Lyons, who published a paper in 2024 in Public Opinion Quarterly on the issue. "Older adults value accuracy, at least in their self-reports, but these age-linked political traits - interest and sophistication and intensity of partisan effects - might reshape what counts as accurate in practice, filtering truth through partisan identity.""

"In his study, Lyons analyzed survey experiments of about 10,000 respondents and internet usage data from about 4,500 people. He found that adults older than 60 were about as skeptical of false headlines, on average, as younger people. Despite that, older adults tended to be likelier to read and share misinformation than younger ones."

Survey experiments of about 10,000 respondents and internet usage data from about 4,500 people indicate adults older than 60 are about as skeptical of false headlines as younger people. Despite similar skepticism, older adults are more likely to read, like, and share misinformation online. Partisanship and congeniality bias lead older adults to seek and believe information that supports pre-existing views while dismissing conflicting data. Digital literacy decreases with age, while news literacy patterns are more complex. Age-linked political traits such as interest, sophistication, and intensity of partisan effects can reshape perceptions of accuracy by filtering information through partisan identity.

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