Fake news websites are those which intentionally, but not necessarily solely, publish hoaxes and disinformation for purposes other than news satire. Some of these sites use homograph spoofing attacks, typosquatting and other deceptive strategies similar to those used in phishing attacks to resemble genuine news outlets.
Fake news sites deliberately publish hoaxes and disinformation to drive web traffic inflamed by social media. These sites are distinguished from news satire (which is usually intended to be humorous) as they mislead and sometimes profit from readers' gullibility. While most fake news sites are portrayed to be spinoffs of other news sites, some of these websites are examples of website spoofing, structured to make visitors believe they are visiting major news outlets like ABC News or MSNBC. The New York Times pointed out that within a strict definition, "fake news" on the Internet referred to a fictitious article which was fabricated with the deliberate motivation to defraud readers, generally with the goal of profiting through clickbait. PolitiFact described fake news as fabricated content designed to fool readers and subsequently made viral through the Internet to crowds that increase its dissemination.
The New York Times noted in a December 2016 article that fake news had previously maintained a presence on the Internet and within tabloid journalism in the years prior to the 2016 U.S. election. Except for the 2016 Philippine elections, prior to the election between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, fake news had not impacted the election process and subsequent events to such a high degree. Subsequent to the 2016 election, the issue of fake news turned into a political weapon, with supporters of left-wing politics saying those on the opposite side of the spectrum spread falsehoods, and supporters of right-wing politics arguing such accusations were merely a way to censor conservative views. Due to these back-and-forth complaints, the definition of fake news as used for such polemics became more vague.
The following is a list of websites created by individuals (aside from those associated with corporations or political actors) that have been considered by journalists, fact-checkers or researchers as distributing false news - or otherwise participating in misinformation or disinformation.
The Philippines has been called "Patient Zero" in the current era of disinformation, with Rodrigo Duterte's presidential campaign being regarded as the index case, having preceded widespread global coverage of the Cambridge Analytica scandal and Russian trolls.
There is an extensive archive list of fake news websites based in the Philippines or targeting Philippine audiences which has been moved from this international list article to the Fake news in the Philippines article due to its size.
Examples of disinformation campaigns from companies include Eliminalia, a reputation management firm that created a network of over 600 websites for its clients, and Regency Enterprises, which created sites to promote the movie A Cure for Wellness.
Examples of countries with political actors that have been confirmed or suspected to be involved with fake news website networks include Brazil, India, Iran, Italy, the People's Republic of China, the Philippines, Russia, Ukraine (Luhansk), and the United States.
According to the Poynter Institute, there are four categories of false fact-checking websites:
As of October 2025, NewsGuard has tracked at least 2,089 news/information websites automatically generated by machine learning models that span 16 languages.
The following table lists websites that have been both considered by fact-checkers, journalists or researchers as distributing false news and are run by organizations that have been designated by the Southern Poverty Law Center as hate groups.
The following is a list of websites that have been characterized by journalists and researchers as promoting pseudoscience or junk science.
Numerous websites have been created by companies or individuals that contain satirical or news parody content that is intended to be or has been designated by fact-checkers, journalists or researchers as fake news.
Examples of countries with troll farms that have been confirmed or suspected to be involved with fake news website networks include Cambodia, Ghana, North Macedonia, the Republic of Georgia, and Russia.
The following table lists websites that have allowed users to generate their own hoaxes that appear in the form of news articles. While the stated purpose is for users to prank their friends, many of the resulting false stories have spread on social media and have led to harassment.
Many fake news websites can be assessed as likely being part of the same network campaign if some combination of the following are true:
Used a technique called "domain hopping" - repeatedly switching domain names to stay ahead of advertising blacklists on social media.
The following article lists miscellaneous sites that are one-offs or otherwise lack information that would place them into one of the other categories above.