Chrome Extension ‘Fake News Alert’ Alerts You to False or Misleading Information
After an election season littered with fake and misleading articles, it's time to take a stand — and technology can help. A Chrome browser extension, called Fake News Alert, alerts users when a website contains false or misleading information. It was created by Select All / New York magazine's Brian Feldman, who explained how it works here.
The extension is built off a list of unreliable websites compiled by media studies professor Melissa Zimdars, according to Select All. It provides a warning on not just actual fake news, but also popular satire sites like The Onion and The Borowitz Report, as well as sites like conspiracy theory-promoting Infowars and alt-right favorite Breitbart News.
"Not all of these sources are always or inherently problematic, but I’m including them because they should be considered in conjunction with other news/info sources due to their tendency to rely on clickbait headlines,” Zimdars tells Select All. The extension does not block any of the sites, just alerts users when they're on a website that may contain inaccuracies or exaggerations.
Of course, smaller blogs won't be flagged on a big-picture list, but it's a good reminder to be conscious of where you get your information and if it's giving you the full picture. The browser extension comes on the heels of Facebook and Google promising to take actions to cut back on fake news. Extensions like Fake News Alert can help consumers not give fake news articles traffic in the first place.
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