NewsGuard, a fairly well-respected Microsoft Edge web browser extension that ranks websites on their truthfulness and reliability, has transitioned to a paid subscription model this week with its latest update.
The entire NewGuard service was completely free to use before now but now costs around $3 a month to use. In good news, the paid subscription will also unlock all features on other browsers in addition to Microsoft Edge as long as the same account is used.
Here’s the official list of features:
- Unlimited access to our browser extension with ratings of more than 4,000 websites that account for 95% of engagement with news in the U.S., U.K., France, Germany and Italy.
- NewsGuard ratings icons next to links on all of the top search engines, social media platforms, and news aggregation websites.
- Summaries showing who owns each site, its political leaning if any, and how each site performs on each of NewsGuard’s nine journalistic criteria.
- Detailed written descriptions of each site and why they passed or failed the nine criteria.
- Warnings on hundreds of hoax healthcare sites peddling unreliable advice and miracle cures.
- Warnings on political propaganda news sites funded by campaigns or PACs.
- Warnings on from hoaxes, conspiracy theories, advertising posing as news, and other forms of unreliable information online.
- New! A reliability rating score of 0-100 for each site based on its performance on our nine criteria.
- New! Access to NewsGuard’s upcoming mobile apps for iOS and Android.
- New! Access to each edition of the Misinformation Monitor, our newsletter about online misinformation in the U.S. and Europe.
Interested users can currently sign up for a 2-week free trial though it will be interesting to see how many choose to pay after that trial period is up.
Do you use NewsGuard? Will you continue to use it now that you have to pay for it? Share your thoughts with the community in the comments below and then follow us on Pinterest and Facebook for more Microsoft Edge content.
