Abstract
We present Harmony Square, a short, free-to-play online game in which players learn how political misinformation is produced and spread. We find that the game confers psychological resistance against manipulation techniques commonly used in political misinformation: players from around the world find social media content making use of these techniques significantly less reliable after playing, are more confident in their ability to spot such content, and less likely to report sharing it with others in their network.
Highlights
Does playing Harmony Square make people better at spotting manipulation techniques commonly used in political misinformation?
We find that people who played Harmony Square rated manipulative social media posts making use of the above techniques as less reliable after playing, were more confident in their ability to spot such content, and importantly, were less likely to report to share it in their social network
We first calculated the difference between the average score on all 3 of these questions for all 8 “real fake news” and all 8 “fictional fake news” social media posts that we used as measures before and after the intervention, for each participant
Summary
Does playing Harmony Square make people better at spotting manipulation techniques commonly used in political misinformation?. Does playing the game increase people’s confidence in their ability to spot such manipulation techniques in social media content?. Does playing the game reduce people’s self-reported willingness to share manipulative social media content with people in their network?. ● In collaboration with the Dutch media collective DROG, design agency Gusmanson, Park Advisors, the U.S Department of State’s Global Engagement Center and the Department of Homeland Security, we created a 10-minute, free online browser game called Harmony Square. ● Drawing on “inoculation theory,” the game functions as a psychological “vaccine” by exposing people to weakened doses of the common techniques used in political misinformation especially during elections
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
