Microsoft has partnered with fact-checking website NewsGuard to now provide free access to its service for Microsoft Edge users. NewsGuard is available at a $2.95 monthly subscription fee for customers using other web browsers.

NewsGuard was previously integrated into the mobile version of Edge and this agreement brings the same to the recently-launched Edge browser based on Chromium. On top of this, Microsoft’s Bing search engine will now have access to real-time NewsGuard data.

“We are delighted to be able to expand our relationship with Microsoft, which is a leader among companies in taking steps to address the unforeseen, unintended consequences of new technologies,” said NewsGuard co-CEO Gordon Crovitz. “The internet has empowered people around the world with unprecedented access to information, but the internet has also made it easier than ever for misinformation to spread, including health care hoaxes about COVID-19.”

The Redmond giant has sponsored NewsGuard’s news literacy program through which it provides access to more than 700 libraries across seven million users in the United States, Great Britain, France, Germany, and Italy. The program will also be expanded to Australia and Canada later this year.

For the uninitiated, NewsGuard uses trained journalists to review and rate the credibility of news websites and their associated social media handles. Based on apolitical criteria, sites are rated with trust scores ranging from 0 to 100 and are marked with color indicators like Green and Red to denote the trust score.

Apart from all these, other Microsoft departments will be able to use NewsGuard’s ratings and labels in their products and services. This includes projects such as Defending Democracy Program and teams within Microsoft Research working to fight misinformation, disinformation, and healthcare hoaxes.

Download NewsGuard extension for Microsoft Edge