There is a new extension in town to help you spot fake news. “Trusted News for Google Chrome” is a Chrome extension that is currently available in beta. The extension will tell you if the new source that you are visiting is considered trustworthy. The extension is made by the same company that makes Adblock Plus.
The extension categorizes content into different categories:
- Trustworthy (GREEN TICK). This website publishes content based on facts and/or factual events and is therefore deemed trustworthy.
- Unknown (GRAY DASH). We cannot accurately evaluate the content on this website due to insufficient data.
- Satire (BLUE SMILEY). This website publishes satirical content and is not intended as a source of actual news.
- Untrustworthy (RED EXCLAMATION MARK). This website knowingly publishes false and/or misleading information and is therefore deemed untrustworthy.
- Biased (ORANGE SCALE). This website contains politically biased content or promotes unproven or skewed views.
- Clickbait (RED BULLSEYE). This website knowingly uses misleading headings or article titles to attract readers in an effort to increase traffic and revenue.
- User-generated content (GRAY ‘U’). This page contains content created by third-party, often unpaid, contributors.
- Malicious (RED ‘X’). This website knowingly distributes threats to your computer like malware, phishing, viruses, spyware, etc.
The extension uses the following sources:
- Metacert
- Politifact
- Snopes
- Melissa Zimdars
Blockchain
According to its makers, the extension might soon consider user feedback also to grade content. They also want to use blockchain technology to improve how this system works. In an interview with Techcrunch,Eyeo director of communications Ben Williams said:
“And then the next step is to decouple that from any server, and from any third party, and give it directly to the blockchain. So that feedback can live on its own in that place and so that good feedback can be prized and rewarded among users, and people who are providing bad feedback won’t be. So that is the next step.”
You can install the extension from here. Read the entire Techcrunch interview here.
Via Lifehacker.com
