Chronology
Fake News is believed to have a long history. The political use of lies was, for example, constant in Ancient Greece. Since ancient times, the border between truth and lies has always been tenuous, influencing our perception and our opinion, until the present.
1439
The invention of the Gutenberg Press was the beginning of disseminating news to a wider audience. At that time, many news were not verified.
1620
In his Novum Organum, philosopher Francis Bacon describes for the first time the psychological phenomenon that underlies much of our modern concerns about trust and truth.
1672
Charles II issues a proclamation “to restrain the propagation of false news” which helped “to nourish a universal jealousy and dissatisfaction in the minds of all the good subjects of Their Majesties.”
1755
The Catholic Church's false explanation of the 1755 Lisbon earthquake leads Voltaire to speak out against religious rule.
1835
The New York Sun reports that there is life on the moon. This is an example of a famous news hoax that spreads through a popular media outlet.
See the full news here: https://hoaxes.org/text/display/the_great_moon_hoax_of_1835_text/
1890
In the 1890s, rival American newspaper editors Joseph Pulitzer and William Hearst compete for the public through sensationalism and the dissemination of rumors as if they were facts, a practice that became known at the time as “yellow journalism”.
1913 – 1914
World War I propaganda was spread to gain men's sentiment to join the army.
1939 – 1945
German dissemination of anti-Semitic propaganda claimed that Jews were bad people.
Anos 90
Satirical talk shows and news publications like The Onion become very popular and spread false stories about celebrities and politicians.
2003
In the run-up to the Iraq war, several articles about Saddam Hussein's non-existent weapons of mass destruction filled the pages of newspapers around the world.
2014
Reports from the Internet Research Agency (based in St. Petersburg) emerge as the conflict in Ukraine escalates. Former workers tell The Guardian they were “paid to flood forums and social media with anti-Western and pro-Kremlin comments”.
2016
On November 17, 2016, the first tweet using the words fake and news was published. Donald Trump will use the term fake news in a tweet on December 10, 2016.
2017
Fake News becomes the Collins Dictionary word of the year and has remained in the headlines ever since.
Germany passes a law requiring social media sites to remove hate speech, fake news and illegal material within 24 hours.
2018
US President Donald Trump announces the ‘Fake News Awards’.