How Facebook was swamped by articles in praise of Corbyn

fACeBOOK may have cost the Tories their majority by driving young Labour supporters to the polls, according to an analysis of popular content on the website.

Millions used the social network to share articles praising Jeremy Corbyn and trashing the Tories and Theresa May.

These ‘posts’ are likely to have had a powerful effect on facebook’s predominantly youthful users, who are increasingly reliant on social media as their main source of news.

Of the top 20 most popular political subjects talked about on facebook, almost all of the discussion topics about Labour cast it in a positive light.

Opinion pieces heaping praise on Mr Corbyn were shared nearly one million times, according to an analysis by Buzzfeed News of the 250 most widely reposted facebook articles.

Other popular subjects were his promise to end student tuition fees and supposed ‘media bias’ against the Labour leader.

By contrast, six of the seven most popular topics about the Conservatives were deeply critical. Stories about the NHS were shared more than 442,000 times, while Mrs May’s backing for fox hunting was shared by more than 340,000 people. Many of the most popular stories about Labour were gimmicky quizzes from little-known websites.

One article by blogger Thomas Clark, which asked readers, ‘How many of Jeremy Corbyn’s policies do you actually disagree with?’, was shared nearly 80,000 times. An article by left-wing blog The Canary – published just before the deadline to register to vote – told readers: ‘In only 72 hours, young people show they could have a nasty surprise in store for Theresa May.’ It was shared more than 54,000 times in a week.

The Tories invested heavily in advertising on facebook, to target voters in different areas with carefully tailored messages.

The party ran at least 314 adverts on the social network, putting it ahead of Labour’s 241, according to figures from data analysts who Targets Me?. The Lib Dems ran more than 1,000.