- What it is
- A free Chrome extension that flags institutional euphemisms — language that abstracts real physical harm — wherever you read or write it, and shows a plain-language translation anchored to a specific legal citation (Rome Statute, Geneva Conventions, UDHR, or the Planetary Boundaries framework).
- Who built it
- Andreas Fleschurz, one person, self-taught, no development background, built solo over three months (May–August 2026) alongside unrelated day-to-day work. Based in Wiener Neustadt, Austria.
- The core mechanic
- Static, on-device phrase-matching by default (nothing transmitted). Optional AI-assisted detection for phrases the static list misses (only the selected text, capped at 3,000 characters, sent to unmask.tools' own API — or run entirely locally via Ollama).
- Verified platforms
- Gmail, Outlook, WhatsApp Web, Microsoft Teams, LinkedIn, Proton Mail, Telegram, Slack, Discord, Google Chat, Microsoft Copilot, Viva Engage, Microsoft Loop — plus manual scan for Google Docs, Word Online, PowerPoint, PDFs.
- Business model
- Free tier is the full static-detection feature set, permanently, no account required. Paid tiers (€15–€199/month) add AI-assisted detection and organizational features (team seats, private company phrase repository, MDM deployment). No investors, no funding round.
- The open dataset
- Every flagged phrase, fully anonymized, feeds a public, filterable dataset at unmask.tools' Report page — severity, sector, country, time period. Free to browse, API access available for research/commercial use.
- The origin, in one line
- Two pieces of Der Standard reporting — one on Claude's use in military targeting, one on media repeating the political euphemism "Remigration" without translating it — led to a philosophical question about whether AI could have a conscience of its own, which became a real, working tool over the following three months.
- What it explicitly does not do
- Block, hide, edit, or censor anything. It shows a translation and citation alongside the original text; the original stays exactly as written.