Ahead of India’s general elections this year, Google is supporting ‘Shakti,’ a consortium of news publishers and fact-checkers. This initiative aims to combat online misinformation, including deepfakes, through early detection and collaboration. The project will provide training and resources to enhance fact-checking capabilities and ensure access to trustworthy information for voters.
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.
Fact-checks in multiple Indian languages and formats, including videos, will be shared and amplified via partnering news publishers, ensuring they reach a wider set of language users and diverse audiences across the country.
“In addition, the project will provide news organisations 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,” said a Google blog.
Shakti, will be driven by DataLEADS, in collaboration with the Misinformation Combat Alliance, The Quint, VishvasNews, Boom, Factly, and Newschecker, with support from the Google News Initiative.
“The Fact-Checking Collective will continue to prioritise publishers producing original news in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali and Marathi,” said the blog.
“We are proud to work with India’s leading fact-checking organisations and news publishers to spearhead Shakti, especially at a time when deepfakes are being increasingly used for disinformation purposes,” said
Syed Nazakat, founder and CEO, DataLEADS.
“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. We are honored and excited to partner with Google News Initiative to build this important consortium,” Nazakat added.
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