Introducing Gali Fakta: A New Media Literacy Game to Combat Misinformation in Indonesia and Beyond
Our new online game improved Indonesian participant's ability to detect misinformation!
I’m excited to share the first scientific publication of our new media literacy game: Gali Fakta. Our study was published in the Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) Misinformation Review, which was really cool since that is my favorite academic journal to keep up with misinformation research.
Developed as a WhatsApp-inspired game, Gali Fakta engages users by simulating real-world scenarios where they must discern between accurate and false information shared in a messaging group. This interactive tool is tailored specifically for Indonesian audiences, where WhatsApp is very popular and misinformation, particularly around elections, health, and finance, is prevalent.
Key Findings:
Increased Skepticism Toward False News: After playing Gali Fakta, participants demonstrated significantly greater skepticism towards false news headlines, improving their ability to identify misinformation.
Reduced Sharing of Misinformation: Participants who engaged with the game were less likely to share false news, indicating that the game helps reduce the spread of misinformation.
No Negative Impact on Factual News: Importantly, Gali Fakta did not lead to increased skepticism toward factual news, showing that the game effectively targets misinformation without creating unnecessary doubt about legitimate information.
However, while participants became more discerning in detecting false information, there was no significant improvement in self-reported media literacy, suggesting the need for additional interventions to raise broader media literacy skills.
With Indonesia’s online population rapidly growing, the country faces a heightened risk of misinformation spreading through popular platforms like WhatsApp. The success of Gali Fakta presents a scalable solution for improving media literacy and reducing misinformation, a vital step in safeguarding public knowledge and democratic processes.
We also recently translated Gali Fakta into an English version and tested it with American participants. We had encouraging results as Americans who played Gali Fakta were also significantly better able to identify misinformation! Hopefully, that paper will be published soon, and I can cover it in more detail in a future newsletter. We plan to update the game regularly and adapt it to our ever-evolving information landscape.
Click here to play the Indonesian version of Gali Fakta
Click here to play the English version of Gali Fakta
Thank you for reading!