In this age of the proliferation of fake news, most of us (well, at least the logical part of the population) want to be extra careful when reading and eventually sharing news on our social feeds. Microsoft believes you need a little extra help from their mobile browser in determining if a publication is reliable or not. Their Microsoft Edge browser now automatically installs a third-party app called NewsGuard which gives you notifications when visiting an unreliable site. And apparently, the Daily Mail is one such site.
Even though the UK publisher is one of the world’s biggest websites, apparently Microsoft and NewsGuard believes that you shouldn’t trust them and their journalistic practices. If you use the Microsoft Edge browser when visiting their site, you’ll get a pop up notification warning you to “proceed with caution” since the website does not maintain the “basic standards of accuracy and accountability”.
NewsGuard is apparently run by news industry veterans who are trying to create benchmarks about which news sites are worthy of your trust. Whether you want to or not, if you’re using Microsoft Edge on your smartphone, you’ll receive notifications like this from the app since they’re now pre-installed on the mobile edition of the browser.
Previously it was just a downloadable plug-in but now Microsoft says you need it to navigate this confusing world of fake news. This is part of their Defending Democracy programme. However, they say they are not part of the editorial verdicts of NewsGuard. Co-founder Steve Brill says that if there are any complaints about their notifications, it should be directed to them and not Microsoft.
DailyMail says that they have only recently received news of this warning against their website but they are now in discussions with NewsGuard to have this “egregiously erroneous classification” fixed.
VIA: The Guardian
