Google partners with news publishers to curb deepfakes ahead of elections

Ahead of the 2024 General Elections, technology major Google on Friday announced the launch of ‘Shakti, India Election Fact-Checking Collective’ – a consortium of news publishers and fact-checkers in the country, in a bid to curb the spread of online misinformation, including deepfakes.

The pan-India initiative will be led by DataLEADS, in collaboration with the Misinformation Combat Alliance and other fact checkers, with support from the Google News Initiative (GNI).

“Starting today until the conclusion of the General Elections in India, the project will focus on connecting independent fact checkers and Indian language publishers, giving them a collaborative platform to share fact checks, research resources and alerts on elections-related viral misinformation and deepfakes, saving crucial time,” Google said.

The company added that fact-checks in multiple Indian languages and formats, including videos, will be shared and amplified via partnering news publishers.

“Amidst a complex information landscape, with the elections round the corner, the Collective is a crucial intervention towards building a robust fact-checking ecosystem to safeguard the democratic processes,” said Syed Nazakat, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, DataLEADS.

In addition, the project will provide news organizations and fact-checkers essential training in advanced fact-checking methodologies, deepfake detection, and the latest Google tools like the Fact Check Explorer, to streamline verification processes.

With this launch, the Fact-Checking Collective will continue to onboard new partners and scale the effort to reach most parts of the country, Google revealed.

“The strategic partnership of the Misinformation Combat Alliance with the Google News Initiative and DataLEADS will empower different demographics, helping individuals with credible and fact-checked information at the grassroots level, so that they can make the most informed choices during the elections and beyond,” said Bharat Gupta, President, Misinformation Combat Alliance (MCA), and Chief Executive Officer, Jagran New Media.

Google claimed that, since 2018, its fact-checking collective, in addition to initiatives like the GNI India Training Network, PollCheck, Data Accelerator, and Data Dialogue, has trained over 65,000 journalists, media educators and journalism students in 15+ languages.

The company had, in October last year, also rolled out the “About this image” fact-check tool to English language users globally in Search to give people an easy way to check the credibility and context of images they see online. Using the tool, users could discover an image’s history, metadata and the context users used it with on different sites.

To strengthen fact-checking organizations worldwide, including those in India, Google and YouTube launched the $13.2 million Global Fact Check Fund which has helped to enhance the capabilities of local and regional media organizations in producing high-quality, impactful fact-checking content.