Combatting Health Misinformation in Jordan: How WhatsApp Chatbot Game Boosts Public Awareness

A World Bank study used a WhatsApp chatbot game to combat health misinformation in Jordan, showing that interactive game-based interventions significantly improved participants' ability to identify and avoid sharing misleading information. However, challenges like participant dropout and scalability remain key concerns for broader implementation.

A recent study conducted by researchers from the World Bank’s Poverty and Equity Global Practice, Health, Nutrition, Population Global Practice, and the Development Impact Group, explores an innovative approach to combating health misinformation in Jordan through a WhatsApp chatbot game. The research delves into the serious challenge posed by health misinformation, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, and its role in exacerbating vaccine hesitancy. Health misinformation has become a significant public health threat globally, and Jordan is no exception, with many citizens believing in false claims about COVID-19 vaccines and the virus itself. These false beliefs have spread widely through social media platforms, making it difficult for public institutions to build trust and promote accurate health information. To address this issue, the researchers designed a novel intervention using a WhatsApp chatbot game aimed at "inoculating" participants against common misinformation techniques. The game-based approach was inspired by the psychological inoculation theory, which suggests that just as vaccines prevent disease by exposing the body to a weakened version of a virus, individuals can be “inoculated” against misinformation by exposing them to weakened forms of misleading information. This preemptive strategy is intended to help individuals build cognitive resistance to false information.

Using a Chatbot Game to Counter Misinformation

The study involved 2,851 participants from Jordan who were randomly assigned to one of five experimental groups. These groups included participants who received a comprehensive game-based inoculation, a brief game-based inoculation, an infographics-based inoculation, exposure to unrelated placebo infographics, or no intervention at all (control group). The chatbot game focused on teaching participants how to recognize three common misinformation techniques: emotional manipulation, false experts, and digital manipulation of images and documents. The comprehensive version of the game not only presented examples of misinformation but also highlighted what accurate information looks like, giving participants a fuller understanding of both credible and misleading content. The brief version of the game, on the other hand, provided only examples of misinformation. After completing the game, participants were tested on their ability to accurately identify whether a headline used misinformation techniques and whether they would share such headlines. The two main outcomes the researchers assessed were discernment defined as the ability to distinguish misleading headlines from accurate ones and participants’ likelihood of sharing the two types of headlines.

Comprehensive Game Proves Most Effective

The results of the study were revealing. Participants who engaged with the comprehensive game-based inoculation significantly improved their ability to discern misinformation compared to those in the placebo group. They were also far less likely to share misleading headlines, showing that the intervention had a measurable impact on reducing the spread of false information. While the brief game-based inoculation also reduced the likelihood of sharing misinformation, it was less effective in helping participants accurately discern between true and false headlines. This suggests that while exposure to examples of misinformation alone can be somewhat helpful, providing both examples of misinformation and accurate information is more effective in fostering discernment. In contrast, the infographics-based inoculation designed to provide similar lessons in a passive format did not significantly improve participants’ ability to detect misinformation, and its impact on reducing the sharing of misleading headlines was marginal. These findings underscore the importance of interactive and engaging methods, such as games, in helping the public become more adept at recognizing and resisting misinformation.

Challenges in Scaling the Intervention

Despite the positive short-term results, the study also highlights some challenges. One of the key limitations is the issue of attrition. Participants in the comprehensive game-based inoculation group were more likely to drop out before completing the study, likely due to the time and cognitive engagement required to play the game. The comprehensive version took a median of 10 minutes to complete, compared to 7 minutes for the brief version and 4 minutes for the infographics. This suggests that while the comprehensive game was more effective, its time-intensive nature may limit its scalability. Additionally, the researchers note that their study only measured the immediate effects of the intervention, and future research will be needed to determine whether these effects last over time or decay without continued reinforcement. Another limitation is the demographic skew of the participants. The sample was predominantly young, male, and educated, which may not reflect the broader population in Jordan. This demographic may also be more digitally literate and thus more comfortable with a game-based intervention delivered via WhatsApp. However, the fact that the intervention was delivered through WhatsApp, a widely used platform in Jordan, demonstrates the potential of using such digital tools to reach large segments of the population.

The Future of Game-Based Misinformation Interventions

Overall, the study offers promising evidence that game-based interventions can effectively inoculate individuals against health misinformation, at least in the short term. The findings suggest that policymakers in Jordan and other countries facing similar challenges should consider incorporating such interactive approaches into their strategies for combating misinformation. The use of digital tools like WhatsApp chatbots could provide a scalable, cost-effective means of delivering these interventions, particularly in middle-income countries where resources for public health campaigns may be limited. However, to maximize the impact of these tools, future research should explore ways to reduce dropout rates and investigate the long-term efficacy of such interventions.