This game lets you create fake news for fake cash
New browser-based game invites players to take a walk in the shoes of fake news outlets.
Ever wondered why creators of fake news seem to enjoy writing and disseminating bogus stories? The answer could lie in a new browser-based game, "Fake It To Make It".
The game, as its name suggests, is all about crafting fake news and earning enough money to purchase big ticket items such as a car and property.
Inspired by real world events (in particular the Macedonian teenagers who profited from fake news leading up to the US presidential elections last year), game developer Amanda Warner aims to explain how and why fake news is distributed to help the public become more discerning about news authenticity.
Fake news on the internet came into the spotlight when social media giants such as Facebook, Google and other websites were criticised for distributing fabricated stories related to the US presidential election last year.
Studies conducted post-election revealed that people shared as many bogus news as real truths during the final lap of the election campaign, accounting for 23 percent of the links shared on Twitter by a sample of 140,000 users in the battleground state of Michigan.
The topic generated so much discussion that the term "fake news" eventually made it to Macquarie Dictionary's "Word of the Year" in Australia.
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