To help empower Indian internet users with skills to make them resilient to misinformation, and embrace responsible online behavior, Google.org, Google’s philanthropic arm, has announced it is providing a new grant to support a nationwide awareness and capability building initiative by the India-headquartered cyber security advocacy global non-profit, CyberPeace Foundation. The grant will support the initiative in reaching over 40 million internet users across India, including at least 8 million underserved beneficiaries such as youth, women, rural communities, elderly, through trainings and community engagement programs over four years.
Additionally, the grant will support a multilingual online resource center that will offer 650 hours worth of free multimedia content and learning materials on identifying and countering misinformation, and on developing responsible online content, in English and 15 Indian languages, including Hindi, Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Kannada, Odia (Oriya), Malayalam, Punjabi, Assamese, Maithili, Santali, Kashmiri. The initiative will also include the establishment of helplines across states and regional clusters, as well as quick-response teams composed of experts in digital forensics, social media analysis, and fact-checking, providing real-time support to ecosystem stakeholders to check the spread and public impact of new-age cyber threats and misinformation campaigns.
Explaining the initiative, Vineet Kumar, Founder and Global President of CyberPeace, said:
"In an era in which digital is deeply intertwined with our lives, knowing how to discern, act on, and share the credible from the wealth of information available online is critical to our wellbeing, and of our families and communities. Through this initiative, we’re committing to help Internet users across India become informed, empowered and responsible netizens leading through conversations and actions. Whether it’s in fact-checking information before sharing it, or refraining from sharing unverified news, we all play an important role in building a web that is a safe and inclusive space for everyone, and we are extremely grateful to Google.org for propelling us forward in this mission with their grant support.”
All the content developed and disseminated through this initiative will be informed by extensive field and secondary research on methods for encouraging responsible content creation, and on mechanisms and measures for effectively countering misinformation and online threats.
To scale and sustain the program’s impact, CyberPeace Foundation will leverage its strong track record in advocacy and stakeholder engagement to engage approximately 100 local ecosystem partners - including prominent educational institutions with strong programs in information technology and media studies, media organizations, government entities, international bodies, as well as other non-profits promoting internet safety and digital literacy - to cascade its content and resources across India.
Core Components of the Campaign
- Research & Feedback Loop
- Educational & Training Initiatives:
- Outreach & Engagement
- Digital Platforms
- Structural Foundation
Target Group
- Youth (all genders) from schools, colleges, events,
- Women, LGBTQ+, people with disabilities
- Citizens from rural communities
- Elderly/senior citizens
About CyberPeace
CyberPeace is an award-winning global civil society organisation, think tank of cybersecurity and policy experts with the vision of pioneering CyberPeace Initiatives to build collective resiliency against cyber-crimes and global threats of cyber warfare. CyberPeace is involved in policy advocacy, research and training related to all aspects of cybersecurity.
About Google.org
Google.org, Google’s philanthropy, brings the best of Google to help solve some of humanity’s biggest challenges combining funding, product donations and technical expertise to support underserved communities and provide opportunity for everyone. We engage nonprofits, social enterprises and civic entities who make a significant impact on the communities they serve, and whose work has the potential to produce scalable, meaningful change.
We have a longstanding commitment to supporting changemakers using technology to solve humanity's biggest challenges. And, the innovation and zeal of Indian nonprofit organizations has inspired us to deepen our commitment in India. With the new grant to CyberPeace Foundation, we are proud to support solutions that speak directly to Google’s DNA, helping first-time internet users chart their path in a digital world with confidence. Such solutions give us pride and hope that each step, built on a strong foundation of trusted information, will translate into progress for all.
