# Real or Fake News?

> A free, browser-only implementation of the MIST-20 misinformation susceptibility test: 20 news headlines (10 real, 10 fake), labelled Real or Fake, scored into five measures and compared with published US norms. No sign-in, no model, no credits, no data collection.

URL: https://real-or-fake-news.skillsafe.ai/

## What it does

- Shows the 20 MIST-20 headlines one at a time, in random order, with Real / Fake buttons (keyboard R / F, Back to change an answer).
- Scores five measures from the Verification-done framework of the source paper:
  - Veracity discernment V, 0-20: headlines sorted correctly.
  - Real news detection r, 0-10: real headlines called real.
  - Fake news detection f, 0-10: fake headlines called fake.
  - Distrust d, 0-10: number of "fake" answers beyond 10 (over-skepticism).
  - Naivety n, 0-10: number of "real" answers beyond 10 (over-trust).
- Places V, r and f in a percentile band of US adults using the paper's Table 10 norms (N = 3,479). No norms exist in the paper for d or n, so none are shown.
- Lets you review every headline with the answer, download a 1200x630 PNG result card, or share a link. The link carries only the four numbers (V, r, f, lean), never individual answers.
- A free "See an example result" shows the full results screen from sample answers.
- Opening a shared link and taking the test shows your score next to the sharer's. A retake shows your previous score, with a note that retakes reuse the same headlines.

## Source and licence

Maertens, R., Gotz, F. M., Golino, H. F., Roozenbeek, J., Schneider, C. R., Kyrychenko, Y., Kerr, J. R., Stieger, S., McClanahan, W. P., Drabot, K., He, J., & van der Linden, S. (2024). The Misinformation Susceptibility Test (MIST): A psychometrically validated measure of news veracity discernment. Behavior Research Methods, 56, 1863-1899. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-023-02124-2

The article is open access under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Headlines are reproduced verbatim from its Table 2; norms from Tables 9 and 10. Changes: random presentation order, plain-language labels, the share card. This app is independent and not affiliated with or endorsed by the authors.

## Limits

The headlines date from 2019-2020, so some real ones have aged. A 20-item test is a rough snapshot. Norms are for US adults.

## Privacy

All scoring runs in the browser. Nothing is sent to any server. The last result is kept only in the browser's local storage and can be cleared from the page.