Rhetoric Audit

Forensic Media Evaluation — ambient article scoring on every news page you read.

**Rhetoric Audit — PhD-Level Forensic Media Analysis in Your Browser** Detect bias, propaganda, logical fallacies & strategic omissions — 15 diagnostic metrics in 2–5 seconds. Rhetoric Audit is a production-verified forensic media analyzer that reads what an article says AND how it's engineered to manipulate you. Click the floating pill on any news article and receive a full forensic report instantly. **What's new in v3.5.2** Security & permissions release. — Removed unused `scripting` permission (declared but never called — flagged in Chrome Web Store review) — XSS hardening: all LLM-generated strings in the analysis panel are now HTML-escaped before rendering — Permissions reduced to minimum necessary: `activeTab`, `storage`, `contextMenus` only **What's new in v3.5.0** This release upgrades the forensic engine to FME V20 — a unified single-call pipeline replacing the previous multi-stage system. Analysis is now faster, more consistent, and covers every article regardless of site structure. New engine: — FME V20 powered by GPT-4.1 Nano — Universal article extraction via Mozilla Readability.js (now correctly analyses Reuters, EcoWatch, Hindustan Times, and other sites that use non-standard paragraph markup) — Confidence score visible in the panel header at all times Improved detection: — Smarter content filter: category/hub pages (e.g. bbc.com/news/world) are no longer incorrectly scanned — Subscription and account pages (e.g. pricing, userplan) blocked from triggering — Reduced false negatives on legitimate news articles Panel improvements: — Evidence Quality score (replaces Evidence Validity Index) with calibrated anchors — Factual Grounding removed (was not performing external verification — replaced by honest Evidence Quality signal) — Heatmap now visible for all V20 scans — Classification confidence shown as a header pill Permissions: This extension requests the minimum permissions necessary. v3.5.2 reduces permissions versus v3.5.0 — the `scripting` permission has been removed entirely. The only permissions requested are `activeTab`, `storage`, and `contextMenus`. The optional `clipboardWrite` permission is never used automatically — it only activates when you explicitly click the copy button. **WHAT YOU GET:** 🎯 **Bias Spectrum Mapping** — Precision placement from Far Left to Far Right (not binary labels). Every score backed by reasoning. 💣 **Propaganda Index** — Quantifies emotional loading, manipulation tactics & ideological engineering (0–100%). 🚨 **24 Logical Fallacies** — Detects Ad Hominem, Strawman, False Dichotomy, Loaded Language, and 20 more — with exact quoted evidence. 🔇 **Strategic Silence** — Reveals what's deliberately omitted: missing counter-evidence, absent perspectives, ignored context. 😨 **Emotional Resonance Triad** — Separate Fear / Hope / Urgency scores to see what emotion the article targets. 📊 **Evidence Quality Index** — Verifiable data vs. anecdotal claims. 🧠 **Intellectual Depth (DOK)** — Webb's Depth of Knowledge framework (DOK-1 through DOK-4). 👁️ **Intent Transparency** — Is the author informing or obfuscating? (0–100). ✍️ **Source Reliability** — Author credibility based on citation patterns and epistemological humility. 🎭 **Narrative Archetype** — Hero Focus, Scapegoat Focus, or Victim Focus? 🏛️ **Philosophical Frame** — The underlying ideological lens of the piece. **ACCURACY:** - ✅ **100% band-accuracy** on 14-article production test suite (all 5 content strata) - ✅ **Zero hallucinations** — all evidence quoted directly from article text - ✅ **$0.003/article cost** — efficient ensemble model with fallback chain - ✅ **Production-verified May 2, 2026** — 3 calibration patches deployed live **HOW IT WORKS:** 1. **Install** the extension (free, no API key) 2. **Sign up** with email or Google (10 free analysis credits, no card required) 3. **Browse any news article** — a floating pill appears in the bottom-right corner 4. **Click the pill** → forensic panel opens in sidebar 5. **Export to PDF** for sharing or research **FEATURES:** ✨ **Ambient Scanning** — Pill auto-appears on news articles (no manual trigger needed) 📄 **PDF Export** — Save full forensic reports with charts, claims ledger, and forensic synthesis 📊 **Dashboard Sync** — All analyses sync to your Rhetoric Audit dashboard 🔒 **Private** — Your analyses stay in your account; zero data sharing ⚡ **Fast** — 2–5 second analysis, even on long-form articles **WHO IT'S FOR:** 🎓 **Researchers & Academics** — Pre-coded rhetorical analysis; save hours in literature reviews and media criticism 📰 **Journalists & Fact-Checkers** — Verify narrative framing, not just factual claims 📋 **Policy Analysts** — Track media framing on policy topics in real time 👁️ **Critical Readers** — Read ANY article with forensic clarity, not blind trust 🛡️ **Skeptics & Media Literacy Educators** — Teach students to detect bias & manipulation **TECHNICAL:** ✅ Manifest V3 compliant ✅ Minimum permissions — `scripting` removed in v3.5.2; only `activeTab`, `storage`, `contextMenus` requested ✅ No inline scripts or eval() ✅ Content Security Policy enforced ✅ XSS-hardened panel — all dynamic content HTML-escaped before rendering ✅ CORS-validated API ✅ Rate-limited (anonymous: 10/day, free tier: 30/day) ✅ Supabase Row-Level Security — you only access your own analyses **WHAT'S NEW IN v3.4.0:** - Production API endpoint verified (www.rhetoricaudit.com) - V19.1 forensic engine deployed (100% accuracy, 5 strata, MAE 2.5) - Ambient floating pill on all news pages - PDF export with full charts & claims ledger - Dashboard sync for scan history - Google OAuth + email sign-up - Anon quota: 10 free analyses; sign up to unlock 30/day free tier **PRIVACY & SECURITY:** 📋 [Privacy Policy](https://www.rhetoricaudit.com/privacy) ⚖️ [Terms of Service](https://www.rhetoricaudit.com/terms) 🌐 [OpenAPI Spec](https://www.rhetoricaudit.com/openapi.json) --- Update: We have updated our privacy policy at https://www.rhetoricaudit.com/privacy to address all identified gaps: Added explicit disclosure of the anonymous device identifier (ra_device_id) generated on install Added a complete inventory of all chrome.storage.local keys and the data they contain Clarified exactly which data fields are transmitted to each third-party (Supabase, Vercel) with per-party breakdowns Updated the data transmission section to explicitly list article text, URL, page title, device ID, and user ID sent to our API **Questions?** Visit https://www.rhetoricaudit.com or email hello@rhetoricaudit.com