Canard:
a false report or piece of information that is intended to deceive people [Cambridge Dictionary]
A word that we should be used far more often. Noted in “In the House, a spectacular flameout,” Dana Milbank, WaPo:
GOP leaders followed the classic culture-war script: conjure up a crisis — in this case, the canard that the Biden administration is coming to take away your gas stove — and then force votes on legislation to counter the nonexistent threat.
