What distinguishes "fake news" from rumours, gossip, urban legends or satire?
Intent: fake news is deliberately fabricated to manipulate — to grab attention/clicks, wear down or unsettle an opponent, sow doubt, or recruit — whereas rumours, gossip, legends and satire are not produced as strategic deception.
The line is about purpose, not merely falsehood:
| Not fake news | Fake news |
|---|---|
| Rumours, gossip | Deliberately fabricated |
| Urban legends | Political will to manipulate |
| Satirical news | Aimed at clicks/attention |
| (no strategic deceit) | Meant to demoralise, sow doubt, recruit |
Digitalisation cuts both ways here. The upside is a democratisation of public voice — classic gatekeepers like newspapers lose their monopoly. The downside is that the "truth-value" of news is no longer reliably checkable, because anyone can publish convincing-looking falsehood at scale. Satire and gossip can be false too, but they don't carry the manipulative intent that defines fake news.
Go deeper:
Wikipedia — Fake news — the definition, and how deliberate deceptive intent separates it from satire and rumour.