Online game could deter people from being radicalised into terrorism
People in Iraq who used to live under the control of ISIS were better at spotting signs of others being manipulated into joining such groups after playing the game MindFort
By Clare Wilson
8 October 2023
An online game could help prevent people from being recruited into terrorist organisations such as ISIS
CPA Media/Alamy
Online games originally designed to stop people falling for conspiracy theories could also help prevent people from becoming radicalised into terrorism in war-torn countries.
When people in Iraq were asked to play such a game, it improved their ability to spot manipulative messaging from fake terrorist recruiters. “It was very positive to see that this helped in a non-Western context under challenging real-world conditions,” says Sander van der Linden at the University of Cambridge, who presented the work at New Scientist Live on 8 October.
Techniques like these were originally devised to “inoculate” people against conspiracy theories, such as the idea that the World Trade Center buildings in New York collapsed on 9/11 due to previously planted explosives.
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In a similar way to how vaccines work, the idea is to expose people to a weakened dose of conspiracy theory arguments to boost their resistance to real persuasion attempts. The approach has been shown to work in countries such as the UK and the US.
Van der Linden’s team has adapted this strategy into a 10-minute online game called MindFort that aims to reduce people’s likelihood of being recruited by terrorist organisations, such as ISIS. The game teaches people about such groups’ recruitment strategies, such as isolating people from their friends and asking them to carry out small acts of violence that make them feel committed.
