Google factcheck: Google has announced a strategic collaboration with fact-checkers in India ahead of the general elections to counter online misinformation, including deepfakes. The initiative will involve the creation of a shared repository accessible to news publishers, allowing the early detection and debunking of false information circulating during the electoral period.

In a blog post, Google shared its commitment to support the Shakti initiative, spearheaded by the India Election Fact-Checking Collective. This consortium, comprised of news publishers and fact-checkers, will work collaboratively to identify and address misinformation across various Indian languages and formats, including videos.

Through this partnership, fact-checks and research resources will be shared among participating news publishers, ensuring a broader reach across diverse language users and audiences. Google will play a major role in creating a common repository for news publishers to efficiently combat misinformation at scale.

The Shakti initiative, led by DataLEADS in collaboration with prominent fact-checking entities aims to boost the fact-checking ecosystem in India with support from the Google News Initiative. Additionally, the project will provide essential training to news organisations and fact-checkers in advanced methodologies and tools for verification, including deepfake detection.

The fact-checking collective will prioritise publishers delivering original news content in multiple Indian languages, including Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali, and Marathi. Google underlined its dedication to supporting the news ecosystem in combating misinformation and enabling informed participation in democratic processes.

Previously, Google and YouTube launched the Global Fact Check Fund, a $13.2 million initiative aimed at enhancing the capabilities of fact-checking organisations worldwide, including those in India. The Fact-Checking Collective in India builds upon Google's existing efforts, such as the GNI India Training Network, PollCheck, Data Accelerator, and Data Dialogue, which have trained thousands of journalists, media educators, and journalism students since 2018.

(With PTI inputs)