What a time to be alive. In 2017, swiping right on a glass screen can be the start of a relationship, but anything you read on the same screen can be fake news.
Former journalist Maggie Farley took these two things – the worst of two worlds, maybe – to make something funny, helpful and worth your time.
Farley built Factitious, an online game that tests how easily you can determine what is fake news.
When you play, an article pops up with a headline and photo, if it already has one. Simply read the article and swipe right if you think it’s real and left if you think it’s fake. If you’re really stumped, check the bottom of the article and click on a button that will you tell what the article’s source is. A window will pop up immediately telling you if you were correct. It will also include the article’s source and whether it’s reliable.
When you get your answer back, the game also provides information on how to identify fake news, such as reading the About pages of websites you’re not sure about and identifying credible sources.
Farley told NPR that it was originally meant for high-school and middle-school students – she used to create educational content for kids at Lucky G Media – but realised people of any age group could benefit from it.
The game will be customisable for educators, newsrooms and organisations, meaning they can add content to be tested. It currently allows users to suggest content to be included, in case an article from The Onion appears to be getting too much credit.
The game’s only downfall is that it doesn’t include the 140-character press releases that President Donald Trump loves to send out, even though those deserve a good “fake news” check.
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