The Factual for Chrome

Fake news has seen an incredible spike in recent years, with 2017 probably being the most stand-out example. Even though some of the most influential companies have announced clear actions against fake news, with the Mountain View tech giant being the prime example, the problems that arise are still far from being dealt with.

That said, if you're well aware of this (still) ongoing phenomena, and you want to make sure that you're not consuming fake or biased news capable of skewing your perception, then you might find The Factual for Chrome to be of great worth.

The simplest description for this AI-powered extension is that it allows you to know just how credible the news you're consuming is.

If you're more of a tech geek and you're interested in inner-workings, then know that it's powered by an algorithm that takes into account quality, diversity, and political affiliations and leaning to calculate a score for the article which can be Low, Medium, and High.

Of course, all of the aforementioned results are somewhat relative, and you won't be frowned upon for questioning the overall reliability of the whole thing, therefore, it's definitely worth checking out the extension's FAQ section from the official website.

Once installed from the Chrome Web Store, you'll notice that the extension lives in the generic place, on the right side of Chrome's address bar. The interface is quite minimalistic and compact and displays the overall credibility score for the publisher and its political bias, as well as the quality score and all adjacent details.

By clicking the "See quality details" button from the second panel, you're instantly provided with the factors that the rating is based on. For instance, these range from the number of mentioned sources and links to the publication's website, to credible and relevant sources.

The Factual for Chrome for Chrome is a well-designed and definitely useful tool that should accompany the browser of any avid news consumer. However, it's still far from perfect, mainly because it's still in Beta and its algorithm currently offers moderately reliable grades, however, it will undoubtedly get better with time.