Media Bias Fact Check

Trustworthy and free.

This extension makes Media Bias/Fact Check easier to use by showing the ideological bias as the extension icon in the toolbar and providing a direct link to the page about the news source. If the site is not rated by Media Bias/Fact Check, that's also immediately apparent since the icon does not change.

As a retired editor, investigative journalist, technical writer, I rely on Media Bias Fact Check as my primary go to for news-source analysis. I find MB to be accurate and reliable. I also publish this in-depth fact checking compendium: https://cfitampabay.org/a-compendium-offact-finding-sites/

I think this tool has an admirable cause, but like most tech it inherently leans left. If you shift all the bias ratings a half or full notch left you're most likely looking at an accurate picture. It's a good tool to get a quick glance but can be quite misleading if not used with discernment. The easiest way to spot this bias is if you do a side by side rundown on presidential candidates, specifically Joe Biden vs. Donald Trump. Under the key policies section one of them has their objective policies, the other has their objective policies plus subjective information thrown in there to discredit said policy. Nonsensical. If you pride yourselves on being the ruler in which to judge bias, examine yourself for said bias.

I think it works well, but the fact that it considers FOX NEWS as "questionable or fake news" on every article shows that this "media fact checker" clearly has a bias. I would rather seem them be fair and actually label Fox News are "right wing". Be consistent.

It pains me to give the extension a mediocre rating because it provides such a critically important tool, but it's strictly for technical reasons. I love its *purpose* and I fully trust the assessments it displays for news websites, because I've thoroughly vetted the same-named website on which those ratings are based. I find their (openly-published) methodology to be sound, and eventually even became a lifetime subscriber. But the extension failed me too many times, and I finally had to remove it several weeks ago. (I had to reinstall it to post this review.) The problem: I kept noticing that its icon had vanished from the browser. Each time, I went to the area where you manage extensions, and each time saw the message "This extension may have been corrupted," or something very similar. There was always a button to repair the extension, and clicking it always seemed to work.... but then it would happen again days or weeks later, over and over. This all happened on a desktop computer, on the Linux operating system. It happened in the Brave web browser, and I believe also in the Chromium browser. I don't have Chrome, so I can't speak to how well it works on that. I always have a HUGE number of open tabs, so I considered that might be the cause, but I have several other extensions installed which have never needed repairing. I've removed and reinstalled it several times, and have provided feedback about this a few times before posting this rating. I really feel I did my due diligence. Hopefully the problem is fixable, or at least rare. Meanwhile the MediaBiasFactCheck website also recommends a similar, third-party extension which provides the same service. (I won't name it because I don't want it to seem I'm only criticizing this one to promote that one, but you can find it for yourself at https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/appsextensions/ and as of November 2023 it's one of the alternatives shown here in the Chrome web store.)

It pains me to give the extension a mediocre rating because it provides such a critically important tool, but it's strictly for technical reasons. I love its *purpose* and I fully trust the assessments it displays for news websites, because I've thoroughly vetted the same-named website on which those ratings are based. I find their (openly-published) methodology to be sound, and eventually even became a lifetime subscriber. But the extension failed me too many times, and I finally had to remove it several weeks ago. (I had to reinstall it to post this review.) The problem: I kept noticing that its icon had vanished from the browser. Each time, I went to the area where you manage extensions, and each time saw the message "This extension may have been corrupted," or something very similar. There was always a button to repair the extension, and clicking it always seemed to work.... but then it would happen again days or weeks later, over and over. This all happened on a desktop computer, on the Linux operating system. It happened in the Brave web browser, and I believe also in the Chromium browser. I don't have Chrome, so I can't speak to how well it works on that. I always have a HUGE number of open tabs, so I considered that might be the cause, but I have several other extensions installed which have never needed repairing. I've removed and reinstalled it several times, and have provided feedback about this a few times before posting this rating. I really feel I did my due diligence. Hopefully the problem is fixable, or at least rare. Meanwhile the MediaBiasFactCheck website also recommends a similar, third-party extension which provides the same service. (I won't name it because I don't want it to seem I'm only criticizing this one to promote that one, but you can find it for yourself at https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/appsextensions/ and as of November 2023 it's one of the alternatives shown here in the Chrome web store.)

Doesn't work on facebook anymore, doesn't run on chrome or firefox.

Doesn't work on facebook anymore, doesn't run on chrome or firefox.

Media Bias Fact Check is an ESSENTIAL extension/web site to use in a world of misinformation and lies that ruin societies. If only everybody used this. Having used the web for 30 years and being politically aware, I can confirm that the information provided by MBFC is at least 95% correct.

Media Bias Fact Check is an ESSENTIAL extension/web site to use in a world of misinformation and lies that ruin societies. If only everybody used this. Having used the web for 30 years and being politically aware, I can confirm that the information provided by MBFC is at least 95% correct.

This is a tried and true sort to discover and understand the media that you are consuming. I believe in reading all sides of story and understanding where the "news" is coming from. I am a child of Brinkley, Cronkite and Rather. I am a consumer of NPR in my adult life. It still means I am going to check everyone's bias to better understand my own. Be curious...not judgemental! This extension is your resource to better information.

This is a tried and true sort to discover and understand the media that you are consuming. I believe in reading all sides of story and understanding where the "news" is coming from. I am a child of Brinkley, Cronkite and Rather. I am a consumer of NPR in my adult life. It still means I am going to check everyone's bias to better understand my own. Be curious...not judgemental! This extension is your resource to better information.

Works really good, Easy 5 🌟

Works really good, Easy 5 🌟

I generally like this extension but I would rather have the social media bar and the description of why the site earned left-right, and factuality rating it did. Rather than a description of what the left-right-center description means when clicking the icon.

I generally like this extension but I would rather have the social media bar and the description of why the site earned left-right, and factuality rating it did. Rather than a description of what the left-right-center description means when clicking the icon.

This is accurate. It even has Fox News down as FN (Fake News)😁

This is accurate. It even has Fox News down as FN (Fake News)😁

It's helped me avoid ideology-driven "news" sites on both the left and right.

It's helped me avoid ideology-driven "news" sites on both the left and right.

--UPDATE-- It's working now. It must have been that some server was down or something when I wrote the below. **Disregard** Not working in Chromium 101.0.4951.54. Extension is loaded with no errors, shows the icon, but every website (Cnn, etc.) shows "Not a rated site". **

--UPDATE-- It's working now. It must have been that some server was down or something when I wrote the below. **Disregard** Not working in Chromium 101.0.4951.54. Extension is loaded with no errors, shows the icon, but every website (Cnn, etc.) shows "Not a rated site". **

Very useful and intuitive.

Very useful and intuitive.

MUST HAVE!!! If you read news and want to know if your source is at least factual get this! Its ok to have a biases news source but it better be High or Very high in factual reporting! If its not I suggest you tak ewhat they say with a grain of salt. This could have saved so many Americans as its obvious they believed a lot of non factual news and now are pretty messed up :(

MUST HAVE!!! If you read news and want to know if your source is at least factual get this! Its ok to have a biases news source but it better be High or Very high in factual reporting! If its not I suggest you tak ewhat they say with a grain of salt. This could have saved so many Americans as its obvious they believed a lot of non factual news and now are pretty messed up :(

could be better but it's the best thing out there

could be better but it's the best thing out there

I want to love this, but I cannot figure out how to get the collapse to work.

I want to love this, but I cannot figure out how to get the collapse to work.

Pretty much indispensable - everyone should install this. Sure it's not perfect, as it only rates the website, and not the article itself, but it is still pretty darn useful. It would be good if it could include links to the fact checking sites for specific articles that have been investigated.

Pretty much indispensable - everyone should install this. Sure it's not perfect, as it only rates the website, and not the article itself, but it is still pretty darn useful. It would be good if it could include links to the fact checking sites for specific articles that have been investigated.

really helpful when pulling up articles from friends or family members

really helpful when pulling up articles from friends or family members

Very useful, helps me not waste time on articles that are clearly too biased one way or the other to be useful. Also love the "factual" content ratings.

Very useful, helps me not waste time on articles that are clearly too biased one way or the other to be useful. Also love the "factual" content ratings.

A reliable tool in my fact checking kit.

A reliable tool in my fact checking kit.

I've found it to be correct in almost all cases, the few that aren't are mostly new sites that haven't been evaluated, you also have to keep in mind there are those who will complain no matter what, so give it try and should you happen across something not quite correct inform them of it, instead of just whine and complain lord knows the world had enough whining etc these last 4 years

I've found it to be correct in almost all cases, the few that aren't are mostly new sites that haven't been evaluated, you also have to keep in mind there are those who will complain no matter what, so give it try and should you happen across something not quite correct inform them of it, instead of just whine and complain lord knows the world had enough whining etc these last 4 years

It's useful to have as you can tailor your news intake from the least biased sources. Sometimes however the fact-check status of website seems a bit simplistic. For instance Quilette, is flagged as misinformation based on some articles touting some more than controversial ideas, but they also have good ones. Whilst this website is however definetely right-wing biased.

It's useful to have as you can tailor your news intake from the least biased sources. Sometimes however the fact-check status of website seems a bit simplistic. For instance Quilette, is flagged as misinformation based on some articles touting some more than controversial ideas, but they also have good ones. Whilst this website is however definetely right-wing biased.

Very useful as a first step to evaluate news outlets.

Very useful as a first step to evaluate news outlets.

This is probably the extension I rely on most. I wish everyone would use it. I am confident about my facts, so I am confident about my decisions.

This is probably the extension I rely on most. I wish everyone would use it. I am confident about my facts, so I am confident about my decisions.

This is a high quality and unbiased tool. Hard to come by that these days. Also, if you think it's biased, you might check your own calibration :)

This is a high quality and unbiased tool. Hard to come by that these days. Also, if you think it's biased, you might check your own calibration :)

Very Helpful for finding facts not feeling in the media.