From buses to bars: this is also how we fight against disinformation at Maldita.es

Street actions in squares, buses and bars

We have taken to the streets not once, but many times. In 2019 we organized a Hoax Emergency at Matadero in Madrid to verify possible hoaxes live before the general elections. A year later, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, we reached the bus shelters of 55 Spanish cities with posters to raise awareness about the incorrect use of masks. We did it with the collaboration of JCDecaux and the doctors and cartoonists “Yo, Doctor” , who designed this campaign and also some cartoons illustrating Maldita.es ‘ denials about the coronavirus.

The Frena.Verifica.Comparte campaign also reached the buses of Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Zaragoza and Seville . Maldita.es and Oxfam Intermón joined together in this case to combat misinformation about migrants and provide tools to identify hate speech.

With the BuloBús , a project developed with the support of the Google News Initiative, we visited around twenty Spanish municipalities to help older people identify online hoaxes and scams. We did it by arriving at the squares of towns and cities loaded with informative materials and with the play “Que no te la cuelen”, based on real examples such as the bitcoin scam .

What could we be missing? Being in bars. So we joined the “Cleaning Hoaxes” campaign of the Scientific Culture Unit of the University of Córdoba (UCO) to debunk myths and misinformation about climate change. As a result, 70,000 napkins were distributed in bars in Córdoba with a QR that, when scanned, gives access to 10 infographics that debunk hoaxes about climate change.

Games to dismantle misinformation

Who doesn’t like to play? In the virtual escape room The Hoax Factory, the player takes on the role of an investigative journalist who must uncover a plot that spreads hoaxes about migrants. It can be played in Spanish, English and Italian and has a teaching guide that you can request by writing to [email protected] .

You can also try the No More Haters online games , which will train you to identify hate speech that affects groups such as LGTBIQ+, migrants or the gypsy community. It can be played on your mobile or computer, in Spanish or English, and is a very useful resource for secondary school students (spoiler: the Rondo of Hate game is addictive).

If offline games are more your thing, you can print our Comebulos , the Comebulos Migration Edition or the Truth or Hoax Coronavirus Edition game.

We’ve even gone camping!

About 60 young people between 13 and 17 years old participated in the Maldita.es Youth Anti-Bulera camp in October 2023 , with funding from the Erasmus+ program. The young people received online training sessions and spent a weekend in Toledo. There, through games, a gymkhana and a content creation laboratory, participants developed a communication campaign on social networks to fight online misinformation.

Learn through WhatsApp

Our WhatsApp chatbot (644 22 93 19) is not only useful for verifying possible misinformation. Through the chatbot you can take the microlearning course “5 challenges against hoaxes”, with short videos and tests to learn to recognize hoaxes and scams, all in just 25 minutes.

Our courses and the play “Que no te la cuelen” have also reached Orange stores and its Orange Digital Center with a free online course on hoaxes and scams.

An exhibition and many free-use materials

Maldita.es has also participated in the exhibition “Fake News. “The Factory of Lies” at the Fundación Telefónica Space, in the center of Madrid. Through historical pieces, works by contemporary artists and real case studies, the exhibition reviewed how hoaxes have been manufactured and transmitted over the centuries, raising a reflection on the impact that misinformation currently affects our society. society.

If you want to see all our free-use resources, you can consult the Maldita Educa  repository , and to stay up to date with our new tools, you can subscribe to the Maldita Educa newsletter .