Global Tool to Help Combat Misinformation in the News

QUESTION
EVERYTHING.

The internet turned into a game. Read the headline. Check the source. Decide if it's real news or an AI hallucination. Fast, punchy, and oddly satisfying.

← Fake Real →

Download on the App Store

Get it on Google Play

Coming Soon

Also available on Mac from the App Store

How to play

THE ANATOMY OF A LIE

Three steps to survive the misinformation age.

⚡

1. READ

You're presented with a bite-sized news article. It looks real. It sounds plausible. Your guard drops.

🧠

2. ANALYZE

Check the source. Look for tells. Is this brilliant journalism or a generative AI trick designed to fool you?

⏩

3. DECIDE

Swipe. Get instant feedback. Learn exactly why you were right — or why the algorithm had you fooled.

The challenge

CAN YOU SPOT
THE SYNTHETIC?

Generative AI has mastered the art of the headline. Factitious pits your critical thinking against state-of-the-art language models and real, bizarre news.

✓ Real articles from vetted sources
✕ AI-generated fakes designed to deceive
⚠ Explanations that reveal the "tells"

Source: The Daily Chronicle

Scientists Discover Species of Bacteria That Eats Microplastics in Ocean

Researchers at the Marine Biological Institute have identified a new strain of bacteria capable of breaking down polyethylene terephthalate (PET) at unprecedented speeds. The discovery could revolutionize ocean cleanup efforts...

← Fake

Real →

Swipe to Decide

1,500,000

More than 1.5, million plays recorded and counting.

500+

Articles to test your skills against

Free

Zero cost. Completely free to play.

24/7

Frequent update, with recent news added dynamically.

Impact

MORE THAN
A GAME.

Media literacy isn't just about reading the news — it's about surviving the information ecosystem. Factitious trains your brain to spot the subtle cues of misinformation, bias, and AI generation.

Used by educators, journalists, and people who just want to stop arguing with their relatives on the internet.

Peer-reviewed & published

THE RESEARCH
BEHIND IT.

CHI Conference Paper ACM CHI ’19 · Glasgow, Scotland

Factitious: Large Scale Computer Game to Fight Fake News and Improve News Literacy

Lindsay Grace & Bob Hone

Analysis of 45,000+ players reveals older adults identify fake news more accurately (up to age 70), and higher education correlates with better performancem, though educated players take longer to decide.

PDF → ACM Digital Library →

Practitioner Report Medium · Jan 2020

Factitious News Game Helps Students Spot Fake News Better

Bob Hone

Half a million students in classrooms across the country played Factitious. Pre/post assessments show measurable improvement in students’ ability to distinguish real journalism from fabricated content.

Read on Medium →

CHI Conference Paper ACM CHI ’19 · Oahu, Hawaii, USA

Games as Polling Systems

Lindsay Grace

This research reports on heuristics in the design and implementation of games as polling systems. Adapting previous research in human computation games, this paper examines the opportunity to collect player opinion through game mechanics. The goal is to make more engaging experiences and exploit poll-taker as player instinct response. This case study describes the design, development and data collected through three playable polls focused on news sources and media literacy..

ACM Digital Library →

QUESTION
EVERYTHING.