The Economist daily news app Espresso now free for students worldwide

Espresso, the short-form, daily news app from The Economist will now be available to over 400m students worldwide at no cost.

With succinct global news updates and videos aimed at younger, digital-first audiences, the Espresso app will be available to high school and university students aged 16 and older.

The app now has AI-powered, in-app translations in French, German, Mandarin and Spanish.

This comes as The Economist is making its journalism more accessible to audiences around the world as it also launches AI-translated videos on its social platforms, using large-language and other foundational models to transform English-speaking Economist journalists into fluent French, German, Mandarin or Spanish speakers.

Luke Bradley-Jones, president, The Economist said: “With the launch of our Espresso app free for students, we are signalling a commitment to the next generation of Economist readers.

“Providing the Espresso app at no cost to students will drive future subscriber growth and offer students—bombarded with low-quality content—fact-checked journalism that provides an independent worldview.”

Zanny Minton Beddoes, The Economist’s editor-in-chief added: “In a fracturing world, we believe our independent, global reporting and analysis is more important than ever. We are proud of the ways we continue to innovate, finding new ways to deliver our journalism to the next generation.

“Although our journalism is primarily available by subscription, we’ve made a distinct exception with the Espresso app for students.

“Our research shows that students everywhere are eager to be informed global citizens who want to stay on top of the headlines. We’re delighted that access to Espresso will help them achieve that goal.”