Comedy Square

Using Comedy to Tackle Misinformation

A well-known amateur comedy troupe from Islamabad used comedy as a medium to raise awareness of the pitfalls of online mis- and disinformation.

In 2020, Young Cities tasked four teams to create content for a collaborative campaign that could respond to the alarming rate at which disinformation related to Covid-19 was feeding discriminatory and extremist discourse in Pakistan.

The campaign, titled ‘Check Corona’, which in Urdu also phonetically translates as “Check – Just Do It.” Under a unified social media campaign brand, each team used a different medium to address a different dimension of misinformation.

A well-known amateur comedy troupe from Islamabad, Comedy Square Pakistan, was known for tackling social issues through satire. True to form, the group applied their talents to tackle the issues of misinformation and disinformation. They used the Check Corona platform to ridicule the ways certain people in power abuse their positions by creating and spreading misinformation and disinformation. The videos help the audience engage with the content they see online more critically.

Each video tackled a different theme. The first video highlighted the normalisation of the discrimination of women and how it was exacerbated during the COVID pandemic. The second mocked religious figures and their uncritical followers for spreading totally inaccurate claims for self-gain. The third warned of believing people that claim to be experts with no credentials, especially on matters of health. The final one satirised the profiteering nature of influencers and personalities who hold running commentaries on the COVID-pandemic.