According to the fact-checking website, Politifact:
"Fake news is made-up stuff, masterfully manipulated to look like credible journalistic reports that are easily spread online to large audiences willing to believe the fictions and spread the word."
The advocacy group Media Literacy Now, in their 2020 report, says:
"Media Literacy is the literacy of the 21st century."
Fake News does NOT include:
In the run up to the last Presidential election (Aug - Nov 2016), fake news stories on Facebook were more widely shared and read than true mainstream stories. How big of a problem will this be this year?
This chart shows the top five election stories that were disseminated on Facebook during the 2016 election.