Google Launches Safety Charter To Protect Indians From Online Fraud, Deepfakes

Google has launched Safety Charter in India, aiming to bolster its efforts in AI-led fraud detection and combat the surge in digital scams across the country.

The tech giant’s Safety Charter would be a manual or blueprint for the roadblocks in the AI-world, which aims to prioritise the end user’s safety, offer cybersecurity for government and enterprise infrastructure as well as building responsible AI.

“Under this charter, we shared how AI is eliminating vulnerabilities in enterprise software, how Google’s investment in its products and programs are keeping users safe, and the various ways in which AI is closing the gap between attackers and defenders,” Google said in a blog post.

The development comes two months after the Alphabet-owned company said it removed 247.4 Mn advertisements and suspended nearly 2.9 Mn advertiser accounts in India last year for violating its advertisement policy.

Of the many violations taken into account, the top five were ads related to financial services, followed by issues involving trademark misuse, abuse of the ad network, personalised advertising practices and gambling and games-related content.

To note, cyber frauds in India recorded 13,384 cases, involving a total amount of INR 107.21 Cr, between April and December 2024, minister of state (MoS) for finance Pankaj Chaudhary informed the Lok Sabha in a written reply, earlier in March.

On an enterprise level, servers of huge companies have been hacked to extract personal information of users and customers. For instance, rental car marketplace Zoomcar informed the SEC that it suffered a cybersecurity incident that led to a hacker accessing personal information of close to 8.4 Mn users, last week.

Google Driving AI Boost In India

The company has been betting on the AI opportunities of the country, with support from the Centre and the growing interest of businesses to upgrade and automate their operations in the country. 

Google’s global policy head Karan Bhatia said that “conditions are ripe” for India’s ascent to the forefront of artificial intelligence (AI) space, in February.

The big tech major started a pilot to integrate its rich communication services (RCS) with Google Search app to allow users contact businesses directly via AI-powered customer services in India, earlier in the same month.

On the other hand, Google also entered into a strategic agreement with the Telangana government to set up an AI accelerator in Hyderabad in February, to support startups and serve sectors like agriculture, mobility, education, sustainability and governance. 

Google’s Other Initiatives Against Online Fraud

Google launched a programme called DigiKavach, specifically to combat online financial frauds in India, in October 2023, to study the methods and modus operandi of scammers and also developing and implementing countermeasures to new emerging scams.

Besides, the company shares these insights with experts and its partners to create a safer and more secure digital ecosystem, protecting individuals from scams, malware, and online fraud.