4. General Discussion
This study developed an online fake news game based on the inoculation theory in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and examined the mechanisms by which an inoculation intervention takes effect. Study 1 used inoculation information as a brief priming session and found significant improvements in both the ability to recognize misinformation and the persuasive intent of misinformation after priming, which were maintained until seven days after the intervention. This result supports H1. In Study 2, we developed a more complete, five-day online fake news game and examined the effects of the intervention using a randomized controlled trial design. It demonstrated the effectiveness of the intervention in improving the ability to recognize misinformation, but the effects did not persist in the follow-up. Persuasion knowledge served as a mediating mechanism to explain the increase in the ability to recognize misinformation, whereas perceived threat did not; thus, H2 was partially supported.