Google’s Jigsaw subsidiary is launching a brand new anti-misinformation challenge in India, geared toward stopping deceptive data that has been blamed for inciting violence, a prime govt stated.

The initiative will use “prebunking” movies – designed to counter false claims earlier than they turn out to be widespread – circulated on the corporate’s YouTube platform and different social media websites.

Google’s efforts to problem the unfold of misinformation mark a distinction with rival Twitter which is chopping its belief and security groups, regardless of new proprietor Elon Musk saying it won’t turn out to be a “free-for-all hellscape”.

Google lately performed an experiment in Europe the place it sought to counter anti-refugee narratives on-line within the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The experiment in India will probably be larger in scope as it is going to cope with a number of native languages – Bengali, Hindi and Marathi – and canopy numerous sections of a rustic populated by over a billion folks.

“This presented an opportunity to research prebunking in a non-western, global south market,” stated Beth Goldman, Jigsaw’s head of analysis and improvement.

Like different international locations, misinformation spreads quickly throughout India, largely by means of social media, creating political and non secular tensions.

Indian authorities officers have referred to as on tech corporations comparable to Google, Meta, and Twitter to take stronger motion in opposition to the unfold of pretend information.

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) has repeatedly invoked “extraordinary powers” to dam YouTube channels, and a few Twitter and Facebook accounts, allegedly used to unfold dangerous misinformation.

Inflammatory messages have additionally unfold by way of Meta’s messaging service Whatsapp, which has greater than 200 million customers in India. In 2018, the corporate curbed the variety of instances a message might be forwarded, after false claims about little one abductors led to mass beatings of greater than a dozen folks, a few of whom died.

Working in collaboration with the Alfred Landecker Foundation, a pro-democracy organisation primarily based in Germany, the philanthropic funding agency Omidya Network India, and a lot of smaller regional companions, Jigsaw has produced 5 movies in three totally different languages.

After watching the movies, viewers will probably be requested to fill in a brief multiple-choice questionnaire, designed to gauge what they’ve discovered about misinformation. The firm’s current analysis on the topic prompt viewers had been 5 p.c extra more likely to determine misinformation after watching such movies.

The Indian initiative will deal with points that resonate within the nation, Goldman added.

“By forewarning individuals and equipping them to spot and refute misleading arguments, they gain resilience to being misled in the future.”

Results are anticipated to be printed in summer season 2023.

© Thomson Reuters 2022