Yes it was. We've had disinformation since at-least the cold war. Probably the best example is the idea that AIDS was created by the U.S. government.

The New York Times made a great documentary on disinformation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tR_6dibpDfo

Well worth a watch IMO

Alexander Hamilton wrote a lot of articles published in newspapers across the country in 1793 about how to "cure" yellow fever with booze and hot baths: https://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/486788-how-politics-i...

The difference is in how the disinformation is propagated. In the past media companies would self censure idiotic or untrue ideas to protect their reputations and while you could find information if you looked hard, the things would tend to spread slowly. Social media doesn’t profit from reputation but from engagement, and untruth is more engaging.

Don't forget 9/11 truthers. They were at least as popular as any modern-day form of crankery, and that was nearly twenty years ago now.