I guess you could say that "fake news" is "not true" + "propaganda/flamebait/viral style". In my opinion this article focuses on the later but not on the forme

I guess you could say that "fake news" is "not true" + "propaganda/flamebait/viral style". In my opinion this article focuses on the later but not on the former, while using the word for the combination (oh the irony). Though in that sense I agree that it's not completely useless, as it may be good to strip or standardize the propaganda/virality aspect so one is forced to actually look at the facts.