Google Unveils New Tool To Give High-Quality Info To Voters Ahead Of Lok Sabha Elections

Image Credit: Reuters

New Delhi: Ahead of the Lok Sabha Elections in India, Google introduces a new tool aimed at providing voters with reliable information, safeguarding its platforms against misuse, and assisting users in navigating AI-generated content.

In preparation for the elections, the company collaborates with the Election Commission of India (ECI) to facilitate easy access to crucial voting information via Google Search. This includes guidance on registration and voting procedures, available in both English and Hindi.

Google mandates that all advertisers who wish to publish election ads on its platforms undergo an identity verification process. Under the verification process, advertisers must provide a pre-certificate issued by the ECI or an authorized entity, specifically for each election ad they intend to publish, alongside in-ad disclosures that transparently disclose the sponsor of the ad.

Adding further, the tech giant Google says that "we have long-standing ad policies that prohibit ads from promoting demonstrably false claims that could undermine trust or participation in elections".

The company has also begun to roll out restrictions on the types of election-related queries for which Gemini AI will return responses. Additionally, every image generated through Google products has embedded watermarking with Google DeepMind's 'SynthID,' said the company.

Google said it is enforcing policies and using AI models to fight abuse at scale. "We rely on a combination of human reviewers and machine learning to identify and remove content that violates our policies. Our AI models are enhancing our abuse-fighting efforts, while a dedicated team of local experts across all major Indian languages is working 24X7 to provide relevant context," the company informed.

The Google News Initiative Training Network and the Fact Check Explorer tool have helped enable newsrooms and journalists to deliver reliable, fact-checked updates to debunk misinformation.

Furthermore, ahead of the General Election, Google is supporting Shakti, India Election Fact-Checking Collective, a consortium of news publishers and fact-checkers in the country. (With Inputs From IANS)