STOCKHOLM/LONDON, Dec 6 (Reuters) – Google’s (GOOGL.O) Jigsaw subsidiary is launching a brand new anti-misinformation venture in India, geared toward stopping deceptive data that has been blamed for inciting violence, a prime government mentioned.

The initiative will use “prebunking” movies – designed to counter false claims earlier than they turn into 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 would not become a “free-for-all hellscape”.

Google lately conducted 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 greater in scope as it would cope with a number of native languages — Bengali, Hindi and Marathi — and canopy numerous sections of a rustic populated by over a billion individuals.

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

Like different nations, misinformation spreads quickly throughout India, principally by way of social media, creating political and non secular tensions.

Indian authorities officers have called on tech companies resembling Google, Meta, and Twitter to take stronger motion in opposition to the unfold of faux 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 through Meta’s messaging service Whatsapp, which has greater than 200 million customers in India. In 2018, the corporate curbed the variety of occasions a message may very well be forwarded, after false claims about baby abductors led to mass beatings of greater than a dozen individuals, a few of whom died.

Working in collaboration with the Alfred Landecker Foundation, a pro-democracy group primarily based in Germany, the philanthropic funding agency Omidya Network India, and a variety 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 recent research on the topic steered viewers have been 5% 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 time 2023.

Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee and Martin Coulter; Editing by Matt Scuffham and David Evans

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