Online disinformation is a rampant problem on the Internet, and the best solution against it is an informed society which thinks critically. In other words, society must be educated. However, the problem here is that “there are no shortcuts to universal education.” Thankfully, there are institutions who try to help in making the process faster.
Enter Finnish Public Broadcasting Company, Yle, which is hoping to harness the engagement power of gamification to accelerate awareness and understanding of troll tactics and help more people spot malicious Internet fakes. It’s put together an online game, called Troll Factory, that lets you play at being, well, a hateful troll. Literally.
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Yle, which is a not-for-profit public service broadcaster with a remit to educate and inform, released a Finnish version of the troll factory game back in May but decided to follow up with this international version (in English) after the game got such a strong local reception, including being picked up by people in natsec and education to use as an educational resource, according to Jarno Koponen, head of AI & personalization, at Yle Uutiset News Lab.
Check out TechCrunch for more details about the game.
What are your thoughts on this one?
(Image Credit: TechCrunch)