Most-shared general election stories on social media overwhelmingly anti-Tory with no sign yet of fake news

The most shared news stories about the general election on social media appear to be overwhelmingly anti-Tory with the Independent claiming the highest number of shares of any title.

Of the top 20 most-shared stories on the UK general election over the past month, according to web analysts Buzzsumo, nine are either pro-Labour or anti-Tory, while the remaining 11 are politically neutral.

Not one pro-Tory article appears in the top 20. There were also no examples of fake news in the top 100 results, although satirical website the Daily Mash and pro-Brexit blog site Your Brexit do feature.

Press Gazette defines fake news as articles which are deliberately and misleadingly fabricated for political and/or financial gain.

Today marks exactly 30 days since Theresa May called a snap general election set for 8 June.

Press Gazette looked at Buzzsumo data for the most shared UK articles on social media that contained a reference to “general election”. We then made our own assessment of the political leaning of the story.

The two most-shared stories of the last month were published by The Independent last week, with both having a pro-Labour/anti-Tory bent.

The most shared story is headlined: “Labour will scrap university tuition fees if they win general election,” has a total of 59,000 shares across all five major social networks (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google+). It is also the most shared Facebook story.

The Independent has told Press Gazette this story gained more than 625,000 article views on its website and a “reach” of 5.8m on Facebook.

The second most shared story overall is an opinion piece for Indy Voices, urging young voters to register to vote, headlined: “Young people, here’s what no one is telling you about the general election: you could swing it.” It has a total of 44,000 shares.

The Independent has told Press Gazette this story gained 276,000 article views and had a Facebook “reach” of 1.7m.

Independent editor Christian Broughton said: “We always try to encourage people to turn up and vote. We encourage people to take part in democracy and we always have done.

“We have seen there are a lot of people who are on social media who care about issues very deeply, who care about policy and social justice issues that don’t turn up to polling, so that’s a good thing.”

Facebook is by far the most dominant platform for social media shares, with Twitter second.

Number of total shares on Twitter and Facebook by political bent (top 20 most-shared stories featuring ‘general election’, source: Buzzsumo

The most shared story on Twitter over the past month is by the BBC and headlined: “Snap election approved by MPs.”

The Independent appears five times in the top 20 with a total of 183,800 shares. The BBC also appears five times with a total of 162,900 shares. The i comes third with 82,400 shares across three stories.

The HuffPost appears twice in the top 20, Metro once and satirical website the Daily Mash also once.

Within the top 100 most shared stories on the UK general election, the Independent claims 554,200 total shares and the BBC 450,800 shares.

The figures provide a contrast to the national print media which is predominantly right-wing.

Top 20 most shared stories on social media about the UK general election (source: Buzzsumo):