Adblock Plus Chrome Extension Uses Blockchain to Spot Fake News

Fake news is one of the most troubling aspects in today’s world. It has led to all sorts of troubles ranging from swaying the opinion of people during elections to inciting violence. In a bid to tackle the menace of fake news, Adblock Plus extension has developed a new browser extension which leverages blockchain technology to spot fake news and warn users about the same.

Called Trusted News, the extension aims to help users spot misleading information and fake news as well as their sources. However, Trusted News is only available for Chrome, so people using Safari, Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft’s Edge browser will still be exposed to fake news.

In order to categorize news sources as trustworthy or malicious, Trusted News relies on third-party fact-checking organizations which are PolitiFact, Snopes, Wikipedia and Zimdars’ List. The database maintained by the extension’s creator, Eyeo GmbH, is protected by decentralization which involves moving it to an Ethereum blockchain complete with a new protocol and mechanics to reward user submissions and feedback.

As for the way in which the Trusted News extension alerts users, it presents a differently colored symbol or logo to categorize which content is biased, safe or untrustworthy.

Without a very variety in fact-checking sources and, the problem can only be solved to a certain extent, but not completely wiped out.

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