Fake news circulating within the French “yellow vest” protest movement has been viewed more than 100 million times on Facebook, according to a study published Wednesday.
The US-based Avaaz human rights and climate change campaign site tracked the 100 most viral pieces of fake news that circulated on Facebook accounts linked to the movement over the last four months.
It said the stories which were identified as false by traditional media outlets were seen more than 105 million times and shared four million times.
These included photos of bloodied “yellow vests” protesters apparently beaten up by French riot police which AFP’s Fact Check service proved were taken in Spain during the Catalan crisis last year.
The pictures were viewed 3.5 million times.
A video which went viral in November with 5.7 million views — and which is still online — shows French President Emmanuel Macron dancing to oriental music “while France suffers”.
The clip had actually been shot a month before at a summit of francophone countries in Armenia.
A third deliberate distortion quoted by Avaaz was an appeal to share “en masse” a photo of a “yellow vest” demonstration on the Champs Elysee in Paris, which the poster claimed had been censored by Facebook.
