1, What is a “fake news” all about?

“Fake news is a type of hoax or deliberate spread of misinformation in social media or traditional
news media with the intent to mislead in order to gain financially or politically.”
http://guides.lib.berkeley.edu/fake-news

2. How does fake news happen?

“Fake news” is a term that can mean different things, depending on the context. News satire is
often called fake news as are parodies such as the “Saturday Night Live” mock newscast
Weekend Update. Much of the fake news that flooded the internet during the 2016 election
season consisted of written pieces and recorded segments promoting false information or
perpetuating conspiracy theories. Some news organizations published reports
spotlighting examples of hoaxes, fake news and misinformation on Election Day 2016.
https://journalistsresource.org/studies/society/internet/fake-news-conspiracy-theories-journalism-
research

3.Research on the history of the fake news.

It seems we are in the midst of a crisis of information—or, rather, a crisis of misinformation. The
epidemic has been dubbed “fake news,” a term initially coined by the news media to describe
stories on the internet posted by websites of questionable integrity. The term has since been
turned back on the media, in America at least, by the Conservative political establishment—
including by current President Donald Trump who levies accusations of the “fake news
mainstream media” against the likes of CNN, the Washington Post, the New York Times, and
others. We now have a constant back and forth in the public sphere: the media accuses online
outlets of being fake, and politicians, in turn, accuse the media of being fake.
https://www.fpri.org/article/2017/06/fake-news-fake-history/