Abstract: My paper refers, by way of introduction, to uses of the concept of ‘fake news’ in the literature of Graeco-Roman antiquity, before focussing on two ancient romantic novels: Chariton’s Callirhoe and Achilles Tatius’ Leucippe and Clitophon. Towards the end of each of these two novels (Chariton 8.7.9–8.8.11; Ach.Tat. 8.5.1-8), the main hero addresses an internal audience with a news speech which bluntly denies or misrepresents plot events that have already occurred. In the main part of my paper, I offer an analysis of the two speeches from the perspective of ‘fake news’, as well as an appreciation of the importance of this concept for the interpretation of these two novels as wholes and in relation to each other. In a final section, I comment on the reception of ‘fake news’ by the novels’ readers (or audiences) and place it in the cadre of ancient views on narrative credulity and deception.