False, often sensational, information disseminated under the guise of news reporting.
Fake news consists of deliberate misinformation or hoax spread by traditional print and broadcasting news media or social media platforms such as Facebook News Feed. It's written with the intent to mislead in order to damage an agency, person or entity or for financial gain through advertising revenue. However fake news is very different to satire or parody which is written/produce with the intent to humour rather than mislead. Due to the expansion of technology media outlets rely increasingly on advertising revenue with the ability to attract more views with big headlines it can sometimes be worth releasing a story with false content for financial gain. Easy access to online content specifically the Facebook news feed has facilitated the spread of fake news, providing competition to legitimate media outlets. Hostile government employees have been implicated in generating fake news particularly during elections. This can be seen in a survey conducted by Buzzfeed which shows that the top 20 fake news storied shared by Facebook about the 2016 U.S presidential election received more engagement on Facebook that the top 20 news stories from the top 19 major news outlets.
Fake news is largely associate with Donald Trump who frequent use of the term is probably associated with the 365% increase in use of fake news since 2016. In regards to Trump, fake news is usually used to describe any piece of journalism he doesn't agree with, some examples:
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