DROG: The Bad News Game

The game that allows you take on the role of fake news-monger.

The Problem

Disinformation — the dissemination of false information with the intent to mislead audiences — has become a global problem. More and more people get their news via social media, and much of it is either false or intentionally misleading — see: “MacronLeaks” during the French presidential elections in 2017; and the “Pizzagate” controversy during the 2016 US elections. Consider one measure of the problem: around 47 million Twitter accounts (around 15 percent) are bots masquerading as real people! It doesn’t help that we’re not very good at telling fact from falsehood; one recent British study indicated that only 4 percent of participants were able to distinguish fake news from real.

The Solution

On the principle that knowledge and education are best weapons against disinformation, the team of academics, journalists and media-experts that make up About Bad News creates educational programs and innovative tools to help people "build resistance to disinformation.” Their distinctive approach is designed to train critical and well-informed news consumers by letting people experience how fake news works, in part through interactive games where they can try on the role of "fake news-monger.” Their operating premise? ”If you can recognize fake news you can resist it.”

Bad News, DROG's fake news game, is free for all to play in any browser at www.getbadnews.com.