This Browser Game Will Teach People How To Spot Fake News

With how much a lot of us rely on the internet these days for our news consumption, it has created a problem and that is fake news. This is because just about anyone can create an online account and publish their thoughts, and if not properly researched, people can easily buy into that information.

This is why fake news has become a huge problem these days, but researchers at the University of Cambridge have created a browser-based game called “Bad News” that aims to educate the public on how to better spot fake news. This game basically puts players through a simulation in which they are asked to rate how reliable they find a series of tweets and news headlines.

Throughout the course of the game, it will educate users on how to identify posts that might be misinformation or coming from accounts that are impersonating someone important. This can be done by changing a letter in a name in which if you did not pay attention, you would have assumed it came from the actual person.

According to Jon Roozenbeek, co-author of the study, “If people know that they’re meant to be looking out for instances of deception, they’re going to be paying much more attention in an environment like this game than they would ordinarily.” This is not the first time we’re seeing these kind of games created to educate the public. Earlier this year, Google created a game that taught users how to avoid getting phished.

Tyler Lee
Categories: General
Tags: Education