New Chrome Extension Allows You to Fact-Check Donald Trump's Tweets

A new Google Chrome extension allows you to fact-check Donald Trump's tweets in real time.

December 19, 2016

President-elect Donald Trump loves Twitter. He uses it to spread lies, criticize his political opponents, attack union leaders, slam musicals, complain about TV shows, share neo-Nazi images, and do just about everything in between. Part of the problem with Trump's use of Twitter is that he can promote false information directly to his followers—without being fact-checked first. But now, the Washington Post is working to change that. They've created a new Google Chrome extension that lets users fact-check the president-elect within Twitter itself.

Thanks to the Washington Post's RealDonaldContext extension, users can get some context regarding Trump's tweets. And that's needed, because sometimes Trump tweets out totally false information. For example:

That tweet is not true. You could use Google to fact-check the tweet. Or you could use the extension, which explains "Trump didn't win in a landslide in any sense—but more important there is absolutely no evidence that there were a significant number of votes cast illegally, much less 'millions' of them." A link for more information is included, too:

Even when he's not lying and simply spouting off his opinions, the extension provides helpful context. For example, a few days ago Trump went off on Vanity Fair on Twitter. Given that he's the president-elect of the United States of America, it was confusing for many to see Trump randomly attack a magazine. Why was he doing it? If you had the extension, you'd know that the tweet was in response to "a bad review of the restaurant in Trump Tower." The extension even includes a link to that review.

The app does have its limits though. The Washington Post explains:

You can download the extension here.

While the extension will help keep you informed, it probably won't keep the president-elect from lying on Twitter. After all, the word of the year is "post-truth."