Robinson told his 970K followers on Facebook: “I have been completely had, how embarrassing man.”
The far-right activist yesterday accused the Syrian refugee, named Jamal, of "not being that innocent" and spread claims he "hit a girl with a hockey stick".
He is refusing to take back that claim but admitted he had been duped after a woman told him her 13-year-old son had been jumped by a Muslim gang in Huddersfield.
He said: “I had a woman, and I’ll show you our screenshots, messaging me all morning about what had happened to her son.
“It turns out some leftie is sitting somewhere absolutely mugging me completely off and laughing about it.
“So yeah, fake news central.
“It turns out the '13-year-old boy' who had been jumped by five Muslims wasn’t her son.”
While Robinson laughed off his “fake news” blunder – he could be facing a costly legal battle after Jamal’s family announced they plan to sue him over the allegations he attacked a schoolgirl.
Their lawyer told The Sun Online: "Jamal confirms that all comments relating to him by Tommy Robinson are untrue.
"We are considering taking legal action on the basis of defamation. We are currently formulating a response to Tommy."
Brits were outraged when footage of Jamal being assaulted emerged on Twitter earlier this week.
The clip, shared tens of thousands of times, shows the 15-year-old victim with his arm in a cast being dragged to the floor by his neck as his attacker says "I'll drown you", on a school playing field.
The teen then pours a bottle of water in Jamal's face while others watch and cheer.
After footage was shared online the alleged bully was sent a barrage of death threats and went into hiding.
Cops moved his family out of their home in Huddersfield during the dead of night after a vigilante gang hurled abuse at them.
English Defence League founder Robinson said the teen was being treated unfairly because he was white and English and that Jamal “was not that innocent”.
He added: “Because he stood up to a Syrian boy, the whole of England attacks him.
“Everyone comes out in full attack for him and now he's in hiding.
“He grabbed someone by the throat and poured a little bit of water on him. It's not waterboarding.
“It's because he's Syrian, because he's a refugee and because the kid is white and English – that's why this has been blown up.”
But despite Robinson’s rant people around the country have rallied in support of Jamal and his relatives.
Nearly £150,000 has been raised via a GoFundMe page in less than 48 hours.
Jamal’s family left their home in the war-torn city of Homs in Syria in 2010 after their relatives were murdered and tortured by the regime of Bashir al-Assad.
After fleeing to Lebanon the United Nations offered them safe passage to the UK.
But speaking during an emotional interview this week the dad of two said his family no longer felt safe in Britain.
They hope to use the donation cash to leave Huddersfield and live somewhere else.
He told BBC Five Live: “In the beginning I thought we are coming for sanctuary and safety but when I saw what happened to my children I don't know what to say.”
On Wednesday, West Yorkshire Police confirmed a 16-year-old boy is set to be charged with assault over the "waterboarding" incident.
A spokesman said: "A 16-year-old youth has been interviewed and reported for summons, for an offence of assault. He will appear at Youth Court in due course."
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