Fake news is as old as the Internet. From the 1990s, I remember spam, scams, and ghost ship "rolling" petitions that sailed the white-font-on-black-background PINE and LYNX seas -- almost as soon as the first e-list was compiled.

Spam couldn't easily penetrate Usenet -- the threaded online discussion Bulletin Boards, or BBSes that scientists used before email. When email lists proliferated, however, spamsters found ways to hop on board other people's trains, at open relays.