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It doesn't have to be deliberate, purposeful, or even conscious - though it often is. An exaggeration can be treated as fact. That fact can again be exaggerated, until the words bear no relation to reality. Wikipedia practically invented this mechanism.

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I do think in that case that fake is not the right adjective to use. Every definition of fake implies intent to deceive. If you're trying to encompass the meanings you describe above, fake doesn't appear to cover it.

You are right. But I do think that what is now called "fake news" is generated by a similar mechanism. I don't know what term to use. Wrong or false don't quite cover it. Perhaps 'unmoored' - a boat can be unmoored accidentally or deliberately, or by outside events - a big wave.

Yeah, I'm not sure what the appropriate term is here, either. Perhaps contentious? disputed?

I'm still trying to get my head around what fake news is actually trying to describe. I'd like it to refer to intentional deception, but I think it's being used much more broadly than that. I fear that it's effectively meaningless at this point, other than as a generic insult.

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