See through the propaganda.
Privacy-first Chrome / Chromium extension that acts like critical-reading sunglasses: it highlights rhetorical techniques and framing choices in news and long-form writing — never censors a page, never sells your data, and never hands down a partisan “bias score.”
AI-assisted analysis. Not infallible. Designed to augment critical thinking, not replace it.
Opaque left/right meters are a dead end. Bias Noticer names techniques instead:
- Loaded language · omission · cherry-picked stats · false dichotomies · and more
- Directionally agnostic — same rules for every tribe
- Tooltips + side panel with evidence, counterpoints, optional rephrases
- You stay in control (sensitivity, categories, privacy, custom prompt)
Inspired by the They Live “put on the sunglasses” moment as a metaphor for media literacy — not affiliated with the film or its rights holders.
| Put on shades | Extract → Grok (BYOK) or local heuristics → non-destructive highlights |
| Signal radar | Document heat map of technique density (lead → body → close) · click to jump |
| Technique Academy | Lessons, spot-the-technique drills, live-page study · progress stays local |
| Side panel | Detected · Summary · Evidence · Research · Outlets · Academy · Feedback |
| Letter grades | Neutrality 0–100 → A+…F for articles, outlets, and journalists |
| Outlet scoreboard | Running averages by hostname · sparklines · clickable audit history |
| Journalist scoreboard | Same grades by byline · multi-author split · local scan timelines |
| Reader extract | Reformats text already in the page DOM (Alt+R) — not a paywall crack |
| Research paste | Lawful full-text audit path + exportable research brief (works without a prior scan) |
| Themes | Light / Dark / System / They Live retro |
| Privacy | Key stays in chrome.storage.local · optional cache · clear-all-data |
| Default model | grok-4.3 (configurable) |
Grades summarize framing / bias-signal load from your scans — not “truth,” not left vs right.
| Grade | Neutrality | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| A+ | 97–100 | Exceptionally even |
| A | 93–96 | Very even |
| A− | 90–92 | Mostly even |
| B+ | 87–89 | Light framing |
| B | 83–86 | Some framing |
| B− | 80–82 | Noticeable framing |
| C+ | 77–79 | Mixed |
| C | 73–76 | Mixed / lean |
| C− | 70–72 | Clear lean |
| D+ | 67–69 | Heavy framing |
| D | 63–66 | Strong bias signals |
| D− | 60–62 | Very heavy signals |
| F | 0–59 | Extreme bias signals |
Outlets roll by hostname (bn_site_*). Journalists roll by byline name (bn_jour_*).
Demo mode and thin paywall shells are excluded from rankings. Click any row in the side panel for full local audit history (compact report — no article body stored).
Source HTML for the poster: docs/assets/infographic-letter-grades.html.
- Open the latest Release and download
bias-noticer-chrome-mv3.zip. - Unzip to a permanent folder (Chrome needs the folder to stay put).
- Go to
chrome://extensions(orbrave://extensions/edge://extensions). - Enable Developer mode.
- Click Load unpacked → select the unzipped folder (the one that contains
manifest.json). - Pin Bias Noticer from the puzzle menu.
- Open Settings in the extension → paste your xAI API key (optional; heuristics work offline).
git clone https://github.com/Pitchfork-and-Torch/bias-noticer.git
cd bias-noticer
npm install
npm run buildLoad unpacked from .output/chrome-mv3.
| Keys | Action |
|---|---|
Ctrl+Shift+B |
Put on / take off shades |
Ctrl+Shift+Y |
Open side panel (also: popup → Panel) |
Alt+[ / Alt+] |
Previous / next signal |
Alt+R |
Local reader extract |
- Does not bypass paywalls or fetch paid content for you.
- Reader / paste paths only use text you already have access to.
- Support journalism you value.
npm install
npm run dev # WXT + HMR
npm run build # production MV3
npm run compile # tsc --noEmit
npm run zip # packaged zip via WXTStack: WXT · TypeScript · React · Tailwind · Mozilla Readability.
Key modules: lib/grades.ts (letter scale), lib/site-cache.ts (outlet + journalist scoreboards), lib/signal-radar.ts + components/SignalRadar.tsx (document heat map), lib/academy.ts + components/TechniqueAcademy.tsx (lessons & drills), entrypoints/sidepanel/ (main UX).
Bias Noticer is free and open source. Bug reports and feature requests are welcome via GitHub Issues.
MIT — see LICENSE.