This is not a new thing. The yellow-press journalism of the US happened well over a century ago, and indeed you have papers which talk about Elvis and aliens, which would meet my definition of "fake news".

The only thing that changed was the distribution method (i.e. over the internet/social media).

That's true. There does seem to be some difference though - stories like Elvis Found Alive in Anchorage and Batboy Graduates with MBA were pretty much regarded as entertainment, whereas Clinton Eats Babies and Trump Videotaped Getting Peed On were received as true by large segments of both the population and the media that normally does not make up stories.

American intervention in Cuba due to newspapers absolutely fits the “most people believed it” criterion [1]:

> American newspapers fanned the flames of interest in the war by fabricating atrocities which justified intervention in a number of Spanish colonies worldwide.

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_of_the_Spanish–Am...