It's Fake News!!!
“Fake news” has become a catch-all insult—hurled at anything people disagree with.
Thanks for tuning into Dented Armour. Today, we're pausing the Unpacking China series to address something plaguing our generation: fake news.
Some trace fake news in its current format and prevalence to the early 2000s. As one Substack writer put it, it’s been with us since then—but really, it’s existed as long as lies have.
I wasn’t paying attention in 2000. I was too young and too wrapped up in the known non-truths of Jack London, Louis L'Amour, Jack Higgins, and so on. So I can’t speak to how widespread it was back then.
I may have first heard the term after I finished school. But I only really became aware of the seriousness of keeping it out of ones writing when I started my tertiary education.
Until then, the rule was simple: Don’t tell lies!
From my perspective, the phrase exploded during Donald Trump’s first term in office, when he slapped the label onto any outlet—big or small—that dared to report unfavorably about him.
And it’s not to say there was an explosion of news that was fake, oh no.
Then came the four years of intense election denial. While that chapter and its buzzwords seem to have fallen silent, “fake news” is prevalent and proliferating.
How not to abuse the term
Sometimes it’s used justifiably; often it’s not.
In that recent Substack conversation, someone remarked that fake news was becoming more perceptible. I disagreed and still do.
That’s not quite how it works. With the rise of AI, it stands to reason that fake news is becoming less perceptible, and the reasons you may be seeing it more are because:
a.) There’s simply more of it, or
b.) You’ve learned how to recognize it. This is the likelier reason.
This is what fake news IS NOT:
• Biased reporting
• Clickbait headlines
• Reshuffling facts to suit a political agenda
• And definitely not articles dismissed as “fake news” just because someone told you they were—and you believed them, because you support that person.
Make no mistake: These infractions are to journalism what cracks are to a foundation—dangerous, but not the demolition.
“Fake news” has become a catch-all insult—hurled at anything someone disagrees with. It’s been weaponized, overused, and stripped of its meaning.
Now, even ordinary reporting gets slapped with the label, drowning out the real threats—the deliberate lies, the viral fabrications, the calculated disinformation.
The result? A media landscape that feels more like a minefield than a marketplace of ideas.
It’s time for a shift. And that shift doesn’t start with the newsroom.
It starts with the reader.
The responsibility lies less in how news is written. Now it’s in how it’s read, questioned, researched, and understood.
This is what fake news IS:
1. Pizzagate (2016, U.S.)
A fabricated story spread online claimed that Hillary Clinton and others were running a child trafficking ring out of a pizza restaurant. One believer even showed up armed.
→ Completely false, no evidence ever found.
2. Pope Endorses Trump (2016, U.S.)
Fake news sites pushed a viral article claiming Pope Francis endorsed Donald Trump.
→ Debunked by the Vatican.
3. COVID-19 “Cures” (2020–2021)
Numerous fake stories promoted bleach, hydroxychloroquine, or anti-vax conspiracies as miracle cures.
→ Many of these claims led to public health risks and deaths.
4. Russia-Ukraine War Propaganda (2022–Present)
Fake videos and doctored photos have been used by both sides to push narratives—from ghost pilots to fake casualty footage.
→ Some stories were AI-generated or taken from unrelated conflicts.
5. Deepfake Political Videos
Increasingly, deepfakes have been used to make politicians appear to say things they never did, especially during elections.
→ Harder to spot, and very dangerous for trust in media.
And most recently…
6. The Fake Story of the U.S. Aircraft Carrier on Fire – Yemen Conflict (2024)
In early 2024, during heightened tensions between the U.S. and Yemen’s Houthi rebels in the Red Sea, a dramatic image and claim began circulating on social media and fringe news outlets:
“A U.S. aircraft carrier has been struck and is on fire following an operation near Yemen.”
🚨 The truth?
There was no carrier on fire. The image was lifted from a 2012 fire aboard the USS Miami submarine or digitally altered from naval training footage. The U.S. Navy denied any such incident. Yet, the story spread rapidly, especially among pro-Houthi and anti-Western circles.
Fake news is the deliberate construction of fiction—disguised as fact—designed to mislead. On purpose.
So, how do people fall for it?
By being gullible.
We live in an era where doing your own homework isn’t optional—it’s essential.
The worst thing you can do? Follow a single media outlet.
Almost as limiting? Following a bunch of outlets that all echo the same political bias.
We’re drowning in information.
The internet gives us so much, many journalists now write stories based entirely on what’s already floating around online.
See those little hyperlinks embedded in the article? Click them. That’s where the writer got their info.
If those links lead to other news sites, you’re likely reading a secondhand spin. But if they point to government sites, white papers, official transcripts, or firsthand footage—you’re getting closer to where the news actually happened.
It’s not a perfect system, but it’s better than swallowing everything your favorite news channel serves you.
What authoritative sources have to say on the topic
“The term itself has become politicized, and is widely used to discredit any opposing viewpoint. Some people use it to cast doubt on their opponents, controversial issues or the credibility of some media organizations. In addition, technological advances such as the advent of social media enable fake news stories to proliferate quickly and easily as people share more and more information online.”
University of Michigan Library
“In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has come to dominate the media, both domestically and abroad. Alongside increased attention on the pandemic, has come the viral spread of COVID-19 fake news online.”
Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Melbourne, Australia.
“When misinformation is created with the intent to cause harm or to stir up hatred against a person or group, this is called disinformation. Disinformation aims to create a false perception of a person or group, sometimes to support a hateful ideology or conspiracy theory.”
The Change
And you, as a thinking species, have no choice but to embrace that.
So do yourself a solid and dive into the uncomfortable, because that’s where the real story lives.