As #COVID19 spread across the world within the space of just one year, conspiracy theories spread just as rapidly, reaching virtually every corner of the globe.
One particularly strange - and, as it soon became clear, dangerous - claim suggested that the virus had been deliberately created in a laboratory, or even that it had been funded by billionaires seeking to take control of the world — or perhaps even by aliens!
By mid-March, as lockdowns began, research by the Atlantic Council found that nearly one-third of Americans believed that “the virus had been created and spread for some nefarious purpose.” Around the world, hopes had already turned towards medical science in the race to develop a vaccine or an effective treatment that could address existing cases and prevent those expected to follow. At the same time, however, another group of scientists - those working in journalism and the information space - were also turning to another powerful weapon: the fight against the rapidly spreading phenomenon of false information, as this particular “virus” was spreading even faster thanks to the speed and reach of digital networks and social media.
The “Weakened Doses” of #FakeNews and the Cranky Uncle…
The idea was not quite as simple as it may sound. Research by the Atlantic Council suggested that exposing people to “weakened doses” of misinformation could help them learn to recognise and potentially resist #FakeNews - in much the same way that a vaccine “trains” the human immune system to identify and fight a virus.
So what does that mean? Rather than receiving an injection - since there is no vaccine against false or inaccurate information - you can simply play a game and turn it into a weapon against the deadly “virus” of #FakeNews.
Cranky Uncle is the name of a mobile game launched in December 2020 that uses the identification and recognition of misinformation to teach players about the tricks and tactics of anti-scientific propaganda. You know, the kind of myths that can convince people that climate change is ultimately nothing more than… a Chinese hoax.
The Cranky Uncle at the heart of the game -available on mobile devices, tablets and PCs - is an animated character representing the stereotypical “uncles” of every country: older people who embrace conspiracy theories and may be less familiar with navigating digital information, or simply users who do not take the time to verify the information or sources behind a story. Research has repeatedly shown that people can end up spreading misinformation through their social networks simply because it is presented to them in a convincing or familiar way.
So, what does Cranky Uncle do? He encourages you to become a science denier, just like him. He teaches you about his favourite logical fallacies and the pseudo-techniques he uses to dismiss scientific evidence - from unrealistic expectations such as “Until we find all the missing links, we cannot be sure about the theory of evolution” to false claims such as “Relax - I have a degree in computer science!” In one of the game’s cartoons, for example, a doctor is shown picking up a saw, much to the horror of a visibly terrified Cranky Uncle.
As players laugh at all these “ridiculous arguments”, they simultaneously learn, through humour and gameplay, how to challenge even the weakest claims. Meanwhile, Cranky Uncle becomes increasingly unstable - and increasingly irrational. You can see it in his facial expressions, as well as in the questions he puts to the player. Throughout the game, players are presented with questions that test their ability to identify logical fallacies and misleading arguments, helping them strengthen their critical-thinking skills.
“I always knew that cartoons had the potential to engage people on climate change, so I used what I knew to address the communication challenge we have been experiencing,” Cook said.
The Digital “Vaccine” - Prebunking, Inoculation Theory and… the Korean War
The app is part of a broader effort to provide people with a kind of psychological “vaccination” against false and inaccurate information - an approach sometimes referred to as prebunking. Experts in cognitive science and psychology argue that one of the most effective ways to counter misinformation is to prepare people to recognise it in real time, rather than simply hiding misinformation from them or informing them about it only after it has already spread.
The development of the game drew heavily on what is known as Inoculation Theory. This social-psychological and communication theory explains how an attitude or belief can be protected against persuasion or influence in much the same way that the human body can be protected against disease - for example, through prior exposure to weakened versions of a more powerful “virus”.
Inoculation Theory was developed by William J. McGuire, a social psychologist who became interested in the idea following the Korean War. During the conflict, some U.S. prisoners of war chose to remain with their captors rather than return home. At the height of the Cold War, researchers and policymakers became increasingly interested in understanding how people could be persuaded or ideologically influenced so quickly - and how the psychological mechanisms behind such influence could be prevented or disrupted.
Ο Sander van der Linden, καθηγητής κοινωνικής ψυχολογίας στο Πανεπιστήμιο του Cambridge στο Ηνωμένο Βασίλειο, δήλωσε ότι η έρευνα του McGuire “έδειξε ότι οι άνθρωποι πείθονται εύκολα όταν δεν έχουν εξασκήσει την ψυχική τους άμυνα κατά μιας επίθεσης και μπορούν να ενισχύσουν την άμυνα αυτή προκαλώντας συναισθήματα που μπορούν να πηγάζουν ακόμη κι από εξασθενημένες ποσότητες παραπληροφόρησης, επικαλούμενοι τον θυμό ή την οργή για την πραγματική κατάσταση.”
Sander van der Linden, a professor of social psychology at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, said McGuire’s research showed that people are more easily persuaded when they have not developed their psychological defences against an attack. Those defences can be strengthened by exposing people to weakened forms of misinformation and allowing them to experience the emotional responses - including anger and outrage - associated with real-world situations.
Over time, however, McGuire’s theory faded from public attention.
Στο παιχνίδι με τίτλο “Bad News”, ένα διαδικτυακό παιχνίδι που έκανε την εμφάνισή του το 2018, ο χρήστης υποδύεται έναν ψεύτικο μεγιστάνα ειδήσεων, χρησιμοποιώντας ψεύτικους ειδικούς επιστήμονες, που επιτίθεται την επιστήμη του κλίματος και προκαλεί φόβο μεταξύ των οπαδών του. Μέχρι στιγμής, το παιχνίδι έχει παιχτεί σύμφωνα με τα στατιστικά, εκατομμύριο φορές. Έστω και μια φορά να παίξει κάποιος αυτό το παιχνίδι, σύμφωνα με μια πρόσφατη μελέτη, μπορεί να μειώσει την επιρροή των χρηστών σε ψευδείς ειδήσεις ακόμη και για τρεις μήνες! Η ιδέα είναι ότι μαθαίνοντας πώς δημιουργείται και πως ασκείται η παραπληροφόρηση αλλά και τους λόγους για τους οποίους εξαπλώνεται και διαδίδεται, ο χρήστης μπορεί να εντοπίζει πολύ πιο εύκολα και πιο γρήγορα τα FakeNews, στην Άγρια Δύση του Διαδικτύου.
Van der Linden revisited McGuire’s work around a decade ago and realised that the approach was more relevant than ever in the age of the internet. He subsequently helped develop three short adventure games based on the principles of inoculation theory. “The best way for people to learn is through experience,” Van der Linden said. “I think everyone intuitively knows that. That’s why it is so difficult to understand how a piece of misinformation works until you actually create one yourself.”
Go Viral! - The Game That Manipulates You into Believing COVID-19 Does Not Exist In Go Viral!, a collaboration between the Cambridge team and the UK Government, players join an online group called “Not Co-fraid” and are encouraged to spread rumours through echo chambers, exploiting fear and uncertainty surrounding COVID-19 and the pandemic. In this way, users are indirectly and often unknowingly manipulated into questioning the very existence of the virus. They may not understand why, but they have been psychologically conditioned to do so.
Echo chambers are online spaces where the same theories are repeatedly reinforced without challenge or opposing viewpoints, allowing a single narrative to become established as the only “truth”.
Van der Linden’s later game, Harmony Square - developed with the support of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, among other organisations - focuses on political misinformation during elections. Players are recruited as a “Chief Disinformation Officer”, whose mission is to “spread division and chaos” throughout the fictional town of Harmony Square.
The Importance of Prebunking, Rewarding Resistance and the Cranky Uncle
Social media companies have also begun recognising the potential of prebunking. Van der Linden’s team was, at the time, working with WhatsApp on a fourth inoculation-based game. “If social media companies adopt this tactic, and governments do the same, you can reach more people, create a greater public impact and collect much more data,” he said. “We are reaching the real-world stage of the old theoretical idea.”
Twitter launched “prebunking” for the first time this year to proactively defuse misinformation and conspiracy theories surrounding the November elections, before voting had even begun. “Election experts confirm that voting by mail is safe, even if there is a significant increase in the number of voters casting their ballots by mail, despite concerns that the system could collapse,” one expert said. “Even if this particular narrative has already been debunked, you may still hear unverified claims that voting by mail - the so-called ‘mail-in voting’ - could lead to an electoral fiasco or even fraud in the 2020 U.S. presidential election.”
Cook says that interactive tools such as Cranky Uncle have already been incorporated into educational programmes. The game has been tested in high schools and colleges across the United States, including in West Virginia, Massachusetts, Texas, Utah and Washington State.
Conclusion… The “Digital Vaccine” Always Needs Booster Shots
If there is one limitation, it is that the psychological defences against #FakeNews developed through these games do not last forever. “In psychology, many effects are temporary,” Van der Linden notes. If people do not continue practising the skills they have learned, their ability to recognise fake news can weaken over time. In other words, just like many vaccines, this “vaccine” against misinformation cannot provide lasting protection without booster shots - repeated opportunities to practise, question and recognise the techniques used to manipulate information.
Research by #EftaliveGR on behalf of the #Hate2HateEU platform, based on information from:
Grist.org – Climate Change and Cranky Uncle
Gurdian.com – Cranky Uncle takes on the climate crisis and FakeNews
Reuters.com – ‘Cranky Uncle’ game offers vaccination against climate disinformation
Intelligentliving.co- Climate crisis denials
Thomson Reuters Foundation – Sorting fake news from facts is a challenge with climate change
