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How to fight fake health news

Can playing a video game ‘inoculate’ your mind against medical misinformation?

Could a video game where you pretend to spread Covid misinformation actually make you less susceptible to real-life fake news?

Fake news, conspiracy theories and misinformation about health can stop people getting vaccinated, which in turn could cause diseases to spread and ultimately result in people dying.

In Sierra Leone, an NGO is educating people about typhoid and malaria by creating audio dramas, and sharing them over WhatsApp.

Meanwhile, a team based at Cambridge University in the UK wants to ‘inoculate’ people, to prevent them from believing fake stories if and when they see them in the future.

Presenter: Jo Mathys
Reporter/Producer: Mark Sedgwick

Image: The Go Viral game

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23 minutes

Last on

Tue 25 Jan 202223:06GMT
BBC World Service except East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa

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  • Tue 25 Jan 202208:06GMT
    BBC World Service
  • Tue 25 Jan 202215:06GMT
    BBC World Service except East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa
  • Tue 25 Jan 202218:06GMT
    BBC World Service East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa only
  • Tue 25 Jan 202223:06GMT
    BBC World Service except East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa

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