The term "fake news" is recent, but promulgating misleading and false information is age-old. Before the use of social media influencing public opinion by manipulating information was called "disinformation" or disinformation campaigns." A BBC article under the heading "Nothing New Here," The (almost) complete history of fake news, states:
Misinformation, spin, lies and deceit have of course been around forever. But what Silverman and others uncovered was a unique marriage between social media algorithms, advertising systems, people prepared to make stuff up to earn some easy cash and an election that gripped a nation and much of the world.
American Library magazine
Pew Research Center
Stanford University
Washington Post
Edutopia
What surprised 60 Minutes producers who reported on "stories that are provably false" and why arguing about it "is like going down the rabbit hole."
