This is a shortened annotated list of the top fake news sites from Snopes.com. To see the fully annotated Snopes list, click here. To get the list as a simple printout that can be handed out to students, click here.
And we’re off…
National Report is (or was) perhaps the most prominent example of its genre.
World News Daily Report is dangerous because some stories contain the occasional seed of truth often preying upon readers’ religious beliefs.
Huzlers uses the names of popular brands and restaurants in gross-out stories.
Empire News has both apolitical and political fake news stories.
Stuppid … well, the name gives it away… it focusses mainly on morally offensive fabrications.
News Examiner gets around Facebook rules by mixing real news and listicle items in with its fake news reports.
Newswatch28 (now Newswatch33) simulates a TV news web site and gets around Facebook rules by mixing real news articles with fake stories.
Naha Daily appears to be defunct, but from September 2014 to January 2015 it published several fake news pieces that continue to pop up regularly on social media and web sites.
The Stately Harold unhelpfully identifies itself as a “satire” site in a manner that is deliberately difficult for readers to find.
NewsBuzzDaily is mainly celebrity gossip items and has a somewhat less than clear disclaimer.
Now8News has disseminated a number of successful social media hoaxes.
The Reporterz is fairly new entrant to the fake news round-up, showing up in early 2016.
Empire Herald, which also started in 2016, spread several (often recycled) fake news claims in the span of a few short weeks.
Satira Tribune had several news items taken as real and spread on social media, even though its title makes clear that it is not meant to be taken seriously.
NC Scooper (Nevada County Scooper) closed in January 2018. It was set up (or said it was) as a humor site but some items spread as real on social media.
Associated Media Coverage also has apparently spawned sites that appear to be legitimate local news bearing shocking (but fake) stories: Boston Tribune, Boston Leader, Baltimore Gazette, and Seattle Tribune are just four.
React365 is a generator for user-created hoax articles.
The Burrard Street Journal is mainly comedic and doesn’t intentionally spread hoaxes.
The Last Line of Defense (The Resistance) carries a disclaimer but is frequently mistaken for legitimate news site.
As American As Apple Pie and Freedum Junkshun carry clear disclaimers warning readers they are fake news sites but are still regularly mistaken and spread as real news.
The Burrard Street Journal largely comedic in nature and not an intentional purveyor of hoaxes.
BreakingNews365.net and BreakingNews247.net are prank generators and enable anyone to create any headline and description complete with fabricated shares.
Action News 3 (ActionNews3.com) advances topical fake news items under the guise of a small local news affiliate.
abcnews-us.com and abcnews.com.co pass themselves off as the actual website for ABC News and mimic the look of the official site as well.