Ahead of the general elections in India, Google is strengthening its efforts to counter false information by endorsing Shakti, The India Election Fact-Checking Collective.

This consortium is supported by the Google News Initiative and is led by DataLEADS in collaboration with the Misinformation Combat Alliance (MCA), The Quint, VishvasNews, Boom, Factly, and Newschecker. Its goal is to create a single, centralized location for resources related to fact-checking in order to identify and combat internet disinformation, particularly the growing threat of deepfakes.

"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," Google said in a blog post.

The goal of this project is to make it easier to disprove misleading information in a variety of languages and media types, including videos, especially when it comes to the next elections.

Shakti is also supposed to offer thorough training in sophisticated fact-checking techniques and deepfake detection, utilizing the newest Google tools, such as the Fact Check Explorer, to improve verification procedures.

News publishers who create original content in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali, and Marathi are especially encouraged to join the campaign and battle disinformation by the Fact-Checking Collective.

Google's program expands on its previous initiatives to support media literacy and counter false information in India. Google has trained thousands of journalists, media educators, and journalism students in numerous languages through programs like the GNI India Training Network, PollCheck, Data Accelerator, and Data Dialogue.

Furthermore, the $13.2 million Global Fact Check Fund from Google and YouTube has helped local and regional media outlets all across the world create excellent fact-checking content.

Additionally, the program offers assistance to media literacy initiatives like Sach Ke Saathi and FactShala, which work to give marginalized groups the critical thinking abilities they need to distinguish reality from fiction.