Find Untrustworthy News Sources Using the Microsoft Edge Mobile Browser
Microsoft is expanding its war on fake news into the mobile market. The latest update to its Edge browser app includes a news tagging feature that was previously only available on the desktop version as an optional plug-in.
Both the mobile and desktop versions of this feature are built on NewsGuard, a browser extension that uses journalists to detect fake news, not machine learning algorithms or other third-party websites and companies . This approach has its pros and cons, but in the end you have real people reviewing and reviewing the website you are reading.
Some browsers (like the mobile version of Edge) come with a preinstalled extension. Others will require you to add it yourself. In the next section, we will show you how to enable / disable the extension for all available browsers and explain how to use it.
How to enable or disable NewsGuard
Edge mobile
- You will need the latest version of the Edge mobile browser . Buy it from Google Play Store or Apple App Store.
- Open your browser on your mobile device and tap the “…” icon in the lower-right corner of the screen, then go to Settings> News Ratings and enable the Display Rating In Address Bar option . To disable NewsGuard, simply reverse the process.
Edge Desktop
You can also get NewsGuard on the desktop version of Edge.
- Download the extension from the Windows Store and open Edge when the installation is complete.
- A dialog box should appear asking if you want to enable the news rating option; click “Yes”. If you don’t see it, click the “…” icon in the upper right corner of your browser, then click “Extensions” and enable NewsGuard.
Chrome, Safari and Firefox
If you want to use NewsGuard in a different browser, you need to install the plugin for Chrome , Firefox or Safari . However, these versions do not display the website rating in the URL like it does in the mobile version of Edge, but instead displays an icon that can be viewed (in the same toolbar as your other browser extensions).
In any of the desktop browsers, you need to uninstall the NewsGuard add-on from your browser in order to uninstall it – usually it’s as easy as right-clicking the extension’s icon and choosing “uninstall / remove from browser”, although in some cases you may need to find it in your browser plugin / extension settings.
How to use NewsGuard News Ranking
Look for the icon while browsing (whether in the address bar of your browser or elsewhere). This icon reflects the ranking of the website based on NewsGuard’s rating criteria.
Here’s what color coding means:
- Green: Trustworthy website. Meets all or most of the NewsGuard rating criteria.
- Red: Meets too few (or none) of the required requirements to achieve a reliable rating.
- Blue: The website mainly contains user generated content.
- Orange: This icon denotes that the article / website is satire and should not be taken lightly.
- Gray: The website is still pending.
Clicking on the NewsGuard icon (or hovering over it in desktop browsers) displays a brief explanation of why the website has been assigned a particular rating. You can also tap or click on the “get complete nutrition label” option for a more detailed explanation.
While you will see ratings for almost every major outlet and most other sources you come across, not all websites will be rated, especially non-news websites (in which case the icon will be white with a black outline). However, it is possible that you will come across a news source that does not have a rating. In this case, you can submit the page for review by clicking or clicking the NewsGuard icon and clicking Submit.