NewsFeed Defenders

Fight hidden ads, viral deception, and false reporting as a NewsFeed Defender!

NewsFeed Defenders is a challenging online game that engages players with the standards of journalism, showing you how to spot a variety of methods behind the viral deception we all face today. Join a fictional social media site focused on news and information, and meet the challenge to level up from guest user to site curator. This can only be achieved by spotting dubious posts that try to sneak in hidden ads, viral deception, and false reporting. In addition to maintaining a high-quality site, you are charged with growing traffic while keeping the posts on topic.

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Teachers: Check out our classroom resources for NewsFeed Defenders. Just visit www.icivics.org!

Learning Objectives: Players will ...

· Identify markers of verification, transparency, accountability, and independence in news stories

· Define and identify problematic news items, and other news-related types of misinformation

· Explain a variety of strategies to verify images and information

· Evaluate text for bias based on word choices and framing methods

· Use third party information to judge credibility of a source