ICIR launches online trivia game to curb election-related fake news

The International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) has launched an online edutainment trivia game to curb the spread of election-related fake news as Nigerians elect new leaders.

Victoria Bamas, editor of ICIR, in a statement on Friday, said the game portal which was launched on Monday, February 20, will enable Nigerians to combat election misinformation in an entertaining manner.

Bamas said the game themed ‘Get it Right Nigeria’ has 10 trivia questions and answers that can be played in 10 minutes or less on any device.

“During the election season, there has always been an increase in misinformation from politicians and their supporters aimed at discrediting opposition candidates or parties or dissuading voters,” she said. 

“The trivia game launched for the public this week will help the Nigerian public to be able to identify election misinformation spreading on various social networks, thus helping them to avoid sharing such false information and providing them with accurate information on their voting rights for election day. 

“Nigerians from all walks of life can click this link below to play the game: https://getitrightnigeria.com. “

The ICIR editor said since the game distribution started on February 20, it has reached 951 players, with 489 of them completing the game in full.

“Data retrieved from the game platform show that the players agree that the “answer” statements were reliable,” she added. 

“For instance, while answering the fun trivia that says the permanent voter cards (PVCs) are mandatory for the election, 97.2 percent of the game players answered correctly. 

“When answering the question on collation and transmission of election results, about 91.0 percent of the trivia players answered correctly.

“One key feature of the game is its demographics (note that demographics are optional and only provided by people who have finished the game). 

“These demographics line up reasonably well with its core audience: 40.5 percent of the 489 who had successfully completed the game are aged 25-34, while 72.5 percent of them are male.”

Opeyemi Kehinde, ICIR fact-check hub editor, said there is a need to provide Nigerians with accurate information about the elections.

“As the election approaches, one of the issues of great concern in the civic space is the proliferation of false information,” Kehinde said.