[Factoid] was coined in 1973 by American writer Norman Mailer to mean a piece of information that becomes accepted as a fact even though it is not actually true

[Factoid] was coined in 1973 by American writer Norman Mailer to mean a piece of information that becomes accepted as a fact even though it is not actually true, or an invented fact believed to be true because it appears in print.[0] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factoid https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factoid