About Bad News Junior

🧾 What is Bad News Junior?

Bad News Junior is a short online game, intended for younger players (ages 9+). In the game, players create an online profile, learn about posting sensational and manipulative content, building an audience and gaining thousands of followers. The game takes place in a simulated fictional social media environment to help young people identify the basic strategies of disinformation and fake news. The game follows the vaccination analogy: after exposure to a weakened dose of manipulation, players become better at recognizing and resisting such content.

🕹️ How does the game work?

Players play the game individually, learning about a variety of basic fake news strategies in three separate levels (impersonation, emotional manipulation, and polarization). They follow a story in which they are asked to decide what content to post, how to frame situations and where to promote their online profile. Upon completing the game players receive a final score (the max score is 10,000 followers). There is no way to lose the game. Total playtime is about 10 minutes.

Who made this game?
This game is a joint project by Professors Sander van der Linden and Jon Roozenbeek (University of Cambridge) and design studio Gusmanson.
It’s based on the original Bad News game.

Try the game in your school
Research with the original Bad News game found that it helps players better discern manipulation online. We are now actively conducting trials with Bad News Junior in primary and secondary schools in the UK and internationally. If you would like for your school to participate please contact Prof van der Linden (sv395@cam.ac.uk).

Help us translate this game
We’re always looking for funding to translate this game into different languages. For more information on translations and adaptations, please contact Martijn Gussekloo (Gusmanson).

Bad News JR