I know I am going to regret jumping into this ... but ...
"Fake news", is literally fake news. It is sites with names that sound like real news sites, created by people that post completely fictitious articles/stories. These sites only exist to draw visitors, and thus make money from the advertisers on these sites.
THIS is the "fake news" that the social media companies are trying to weed out. It REALLY is fake news. It has nothing to do with slanted opinions, biased reporting, etc. It is news and stories made up. It just so happened that more of the fake news sites happened to have stories that drew conservative leaning eyeballs this past year. But depending on the news of the times, the primary news figures, those creating the sites, and the types of advertising, it can just as easily be drawing more liberal leaning eyeballs in another election cycle.
Sure it should be quickly obvious what are fake news sites. But, they can still undermine the users experience for those who want use social media sites, and thus is a real problem for the owners of social media sites.
(And I am an extremely limited user of social media. But if I did have a financial stake in any sort of social media, this would be one of the items of concern to me. And none of this is intended as any sort of pro or con of social media. Just like prior new forms of communications, it has its good and bad. So be it.)
BUT it is not about CNN, Fox, WSJ, NYT, Slate, Drudge, etc.
The FAKE NEWS problem on social media is about news that is purely fake!
Imagine if 5 or 10% of the postings on golfclubatlas were truly and purposely fake. And not just incorrect rumors, or mixed up facts, but pure fake. Courses being built, where nothing is happening and no one has ANY Course development plans. Laws that impact golf course maintenance that do no exist, and have never been proposed. Books being written that no one has proposed, and not even any research is occurring.
That is what FAKE NEWS is.