Bad medicine 16

2 Early fakes

There is nothing new about fake news, though. In ancient Greece, the philosopher and botanist Theophrastus described 30 different types of person in his work Characters. One of these people was the “Newshound” who enjoys spreading false stories.

Royal rebellion

During the reign of the British King George II (born 1683 – died 1760), people spread false news about his health as a way of trying to stir up a revolution to overthrow him from the throne. The rumours spread quickly, thanks to the printing press which allowed people to print the rumours and display them.

4