American heritage dictionary:

factoid

făk′toid

noun

1. A piece of unverified or inaccurate information that is presented in the press as factual, often as part of a publicity effort, and that is then accepted as true because of frequent repetition.

2. A brief, somewhat interesting fact.

3. An inaccurate statement or statistic believed to be true because of broad repetition, especially if cited in the media.

I assume the definition used here is #2. I’m actually surprised by 1 and 3. I have never heard it used in that context and it’s strange that one word would have 2 fairly contradictory interpretations.