Google launches anti-misinformation campaign in India

JIG-SAW

06/12/2022 11:06

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      False information has been blamed for inciting violence
    

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      'Pre-bunking' videos aim to stop misinformation spreading
    

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      India trial follows studies in parts of Europe
    

  
    By Supantha Mukherjee and Martin Coulter
       STOCKHOLM/LONDON, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Google's  GOOGL.O 
Jigsaw subsidiary is launching a new anti-misinformation project
in India, aimed at preventing misleading information that has
been blamed for inciting violence, a top executive said.
    The initiative will use "prebunking" videos – designed to
counter false claims before they become widespread – circulated
on the company's YouTube platform and other social media sites.
    Google's efforts to challenge the spread of misinformation
mark a contrast with rival Twitter which is cutting its trust
and safety teams, despite new owner Elon Musk saying it will not
become a "free-for-all hellscape".
    Google recently conducted an experiment in Europe where it
sought to counter anti-refugee narratives online in the wake of
the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
    The experiment in India will be bigger in scope as it will
deal with multiple local languages -- Bengali, Hindi and Marathi
-- and cover diverse sections of a country populated by over a
billion people.
    "This presented an opportunity to research prebunking in a
non-western, global south market," said Beth Goldman, Jigsaw's
head of research and development.
    Like other countries, misinformation spreads rapidly across
India, mostly through social media, creating political and
religious tensions.
    Indian government officials have called on tech companies
such as Google, Meta, and Twitter to take stronger action
against the spread of fake news.
    The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) has
repeatedly invoked "extraordinary powers" to block YouTube
channels, and some Twitter and Facebook accounts, allegedly used
to spread harmful misinformation.
    Inflammatory messages have also spread via Meta's messaging
service Whatsapp, which has more than 200 million users in
India. In 2018, the company curbed the number of times a message
could be forwarded, after false claims about child abductors led
to mass beatings of more than a dozen people, some of whom died.
    Working in collaboration with the Alfred Landecker
Foundation, a pro-democracy organization based in Germany, the
philanthropic investment firm Omidya Network India, and a number
of smaller regional partners, Jigsaw has produced five videos in
three different languages.
    After watching the videos, viewers will be asked to fill in
a short multiple-choice questionnaire, designed to gauge what
they have learned about misinformation. The company's recent
research on the subject suggested viewers were 5% more likely to
identify misinformation after watching such videos. 
    The Indian initiative will focus on issues that resonate in
the country, 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 expected to be published in summer 2023.
 (Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee and Martin Coulter; Editing by
Matt Scuffham and David Evans)
 ((Martin.Coulter@thomsonreuters.com; Follow me on Twitter
@Martinjbcoulter;))