Guest essay by Eric Worrall
Microsoft have released a plugin for their Edge browser, which uses Newsguard ratings to mark Buzzfeed as reliable, and Breitbart, Drudge and Wikileaks as untrustworthy. At the time of writing they haven’t yet made up their mind about WUWT.
Microsoft Teams with Establishment ‘NewsGuard’ to Create News Blacklist
23 Jan 2019
Allum BokhariWithout consulting with its users, Microsoft has installed an establishment media browser extension, purportedly designed to rate the accuracy of news websites, as a default extension on mobile versions of its Edge browser. In practice, it creates a news blacklist by warning users away from sites including Breitbart News, The Drudge Report, and the Daily Mail.
The browser extension, called “Newsguard,” presents users with a red warning label if they navigate to a website that it judges to be unreliable. A “green” rating is given to websites that NewsGuard considers trustworthy.
A number of pro-Trump websites, including Breitbart News, are given a “red” rating by the extension.
…
To see this new feature you need to install Edge on your iPhone or Android device, or perhaps use the Edge browser on your Microsoft computer.
For fun I pulled up a few screenshots of the ratings of Buzzfeed, Breitbart and WUWT;
The “reliable” rating for Buzzfeed in my opinion seems a little questionable, given their recent fake news embarrassment.
But the real question in my mind is, if Microsoft tells you web content is reliable, are they liable if you act on the content and suffer harm or loss?
Just had a red Google screen come up (first time i have seen it) when I tried to access wattsup. It claimed the site had malware and said click here to return to safety or click here to go to this bad site. WTF???
This is coming from an embedded advertisement. I’ve turned off an add on the right sidebar. Please advise if you see it again.
I got this screen too. Thanks for posting about it.
They should just be honest and mark the sites red or blue. Green is just blue.
I just installed the latest updates on my Microsoft Surface Pro 4 and it did not install then “NewsGuard” extension on my Edge Browser.
It’s coming you can be sure of that.
I never use edge so don’t know if it’s already been updated or not and don’t care. When they start auto-pushing it to non-MS browsers, that’s when it will be a problem.
Did anyone else end up with a “503” error message when trying to open
WUWT around 2:30am EDT ?
I cleared all my caches, ran disk cleanups, shut it down, took out the trash,
and now the site is back like nothing happened.
I was going to run a traceroute… but now there’s nothing weird to trace.
???
Maintenance issue, back to normal now.
Anthony,
Thanks for clearing up the mystery.
Come on, man. Don’t go nuts because you couldn’t get to a site for a short time. You were obviously able to get back on to post this, so…
How is Microsoft getting along with the UN website?
Something along the lines of-
A Neo-Marxist news and commentary site that advocates for UN supremacy, World Govt and elite policies while championing a gaggle of gangsters. The site often distorts and omits facts.
https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/adani-coal-mine-should-be-suspended-un-says-until-all-traditional-owners-support-the-project/ar-BBSHMK4
Does the UN have anything critical to say about their Marxist pals?
https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/chinese-firms-to-build-700-coal-plants
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-45640706
Not a murmur.
I just ordered a new MAGA hat from e-bay. I wonder how long it will be before the Thought Police arrive at my door?
Scary stuff.
How will the Vatican site be treated? not sure at this time
Also, is there a side payment system for Microsoft treatment especially for large advertising accounts?
Okay, now how does it rate state-run news from the Chinese Communist Party and Chinese Army sites? And official news in Venezuela and Nicaragua vs. independent (and harassed) news?
A Linux based world free of MS and Google makes more sense every day. Its a pity it isnt packaged and marketed more effectively. I guess long term success would make them monsters also.
Half the machines in our home network run Linux Mint and Libre Office. They tend to be the most trouble free and usable. We just maintain MS for compatability with a couple of things, that I dont have time (and probably skill depth) to try and work out
“But the real question in my mind is, if Microsoft tells you web content is reliable, are they liable if they act on the content and suffer harm or loss?”
if a passer-by explains to you it is safer to sleep in the tree house instead of in the house on the ground
and you roll in the sleep of the tree house and break your legs during the fall
the passerby is not liable.
You should have informed yourself better.
There you go.