FACT CHECKERS

Meta to label AI-generated, deepfake content as ‘altered’ as election approaches

Ahead of the 2024 general elections, Meta said content, video, photo, or audio, which is labelled as “altered” or is detected by its algorithms to be nearly identical to such altered content will appear lower on Facebook and Instagram feeds.

Google ties up with Election Commission to tackle misinformation during polls

Google India in a blog post on Tuesday said its product features are designed to elevate authoritative information on various election-related topics. "We are collaborating with ECI to enable people to easily discover critical voting information on Google Search - such as how to register and how to vote - in both English and Hindi," Google said.

Detecting deepfakes should not be the sole responsibility of platforms: Sam Gregory

Sam Gregory, executive director of Witness, a global human rights organisation, which uses video and technology to expose human rights abuses and has worked on the threats of AI and deepfakes, spoke to ET about AI related challenges and strategies in elections.

Google collaborates with fact checkers to weed out misinformation in elections

I​​n a blog post, Google said as part of its commitment to enable the news ecosystem to combat misinformation, it will support Shakti, India Election Fact-Checking Collective, a consortium of news publishers and fact checkers in India, working together to aid the early detection of online misinformation, including deepfakes.

Meta launches ‘Know What’s Real’ campaign to combat misinformation

The social media giant said the aim of the campaign was to educate users on identifying and addressing misinformation on WhatsApp and Instagram by promoting digital best practices and highlighting available safety tools.

Misinformation Combat Alliance, Meta introduce WhatsApp Helpline to fight deepfakes

The WhatsApp helpline will go live in March this year and will allow people to flag deepfakes by sending them to its chatbot. The chatbot will offer multilingual support in English and three regional languages - Hindi, Tamil, Telugu.

Tech companies sign accord to combat AI-generated election trickery

Tech executives from Adobe, Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI and TikTok gathered at the Munich Security Conference to announce a new voluntary framework for how they will respond to AI-generated deepfakes that deliberately trick voters.

TikTok to ramp up fight against fake news, covert influence ahead of EU elections

Tiktok said the individual local language "election centres" build on work it first started in 2021, which accelerated last year when Greece, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia and Spain went to the polls.

Dance moves and deepfakes: Indonesia presidential candidates duke it out on TikTok

To court young voters, candidates in the February 14 race to lead Indonesia have gravitated toward TikTok, which has 125 million users in the country, second only to the United States.

Elon Musk is spreading election misinformation, but X's fact checkers are long gone

This month, Elon Musk, who has since bought Twitter and rebranded it X, echoed several of Trump's claims about the U.S. voting system, putting forth distorted and false notions that American elections were wide-open for fraud and illegal voting by noncitizens. This time, there were no fact checks. And the X algorithm -- under Musk's direct control -- helped the posts reach large audiences, in some cases drawing many millions of views.

Meta expanding fact-checking to Threads ahead of US, India elections

Meta is expanding its fact-checking programme to Threads platform, as the US and India gear up for general elections next year.

Fact: check or mate? States embrace fact check units amid freedom of speech concerns

Different state governments are in the process of setting up fact check units to combat misinformation. But, can they be neutral and independent of state control? ET asks career fact checkers for answers.

MCA proposes fact check network headed by retired judge

The Misinformation Combat Alliance (MCA) has announced a framework and set of parameters for organisations willing to be a part of an independent Fact-Checking Network (FCN).

Google rolls out fact-check tool for images globally

An image's history will allow users to see when an image or similar images may have first been seen by Google Search, and whether it was previously published much earlier on other webpages.

Facebook alters fact-checking controls for US users

Meta-owned Facebook has handed US users the controls over fact-checked content, in a potentially significant move that the platform says will give them more power over its algorithm but some analysts insist could benefit purveyors of misinformation.

Twitter quits EU disinformation code: EU industry commissioner Thierry Breton

Launched in 2018, the EU's code of practice on disinformation counts nearly three dozen signatories including the giants in the sector such as Meta, Google, Twitter, Microsoft and TikTok.

SRO to vet fact-checkers for non-government-related news gets Centre's nod

Over the next few days, the Misinformation Combat Alliance is likely to provide details, such as the timeline for setting up the SRO and the structure of its governing council, to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, the people said.

Former minister Kapil Sibal slams govt over IT Amendment Rules

While releasing guidelines under the IT Rules 2021, the minister had said that the work on fact check is still in progress.

Technology firms to support non-profit forming SRO to vet fact-checkers

Although Snap, Twitter and Jio haven't officially confirmed that they will support MCA, others like Google, Meta, ShareChat and Koo have given in-principle approval.

New Fact-Check body will be fact checker for all govt content and info: MoS IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar

MeitY notifies IT amendment rules: Govt-appointed fact-checker to identify fake news

The government fact-check body will be responsible only for information related to central government schemes and will send relevant notices informing intermediaries of content that has been deemed misinformation or disinformation by it, the minister said.

Govt to notify fact check body through IT ministry: Rajeev Chandrasekhar

Disinformation and misinformation on the internet rank as other forms of internet criminality and need stricter- than-ever provisions to be dealt with, Chandrasekhar had said on Wednesday.

AI chatbots like Bard, ChatGPT stoke fears of misinformation nightmare

India, which is among the world's largest data markets, is already battling a flood of misinformation that is worsened by the multiplicity of languages. Generative AI technologies can further accentuate the problem according to technologists tracking the rise of these applications.