Google set to work on e-safety steps in India

Underlining the wider impact of the post-covid-19 acceleration in digital adoption in India, Google said it had stepped up its commitment to online safety with a slew of new initiatives, including increased efforts from its Trust & Safety team.

Announced at the virtual Google for India event on Wednesday, the new investments include expanding resources in its Trust & Safety teams in the country, the launch of a newly enhanced Google Safety Centre in eight Indic languages, and user education programmes focused on online safety for kids and families.

Trust & safety

Google said it significantly increased its resources dedicated to its India’s trust & safety teams, including product policy analysts, security specialists, and user trust experts that support more than 10 vernacular Indian languages, enabling the central teams to benefit from the local nuance and inputs.

“We know customer support fraud has been a prevalent issue in India. This is where scammers are using social engineering techniques to dupe users into making financial transactions and this is often resulting in huge losses for victims. So, to protect our users, we’ve taken a holistic approach,” said Kristie Canegallo, vice-president, Trust and Safety, Google.

She added that her team was working closely with product teams to improve user experience by introducing more in-product warning messages. “We’ve also enhanced our enforcement capabilities by using machine learning to try to prevent abuse. And we’re partnering with regulatory bodies to try to actually stay ahead of scammers,” Canegallo said at a virtual press briefing on Wednesday.

Spreading the message of online safety

In addition to launching the global ‘Be Internet Awesome’ programme for children in India, Google will also partner with comic book publisher Amar Chitra Katha to interweave critical internet safety lessons through popular comic book characters across eight Indian languages.

It would educate Google’s users on important topics such as data security, privacy control, and online protection. These initiatives are supported by a series of new global policies announced by Google. These include product changes to Google Accounts for people under 18 across Youtube, Search, Location History, Play, and Google Workspace for Education.

Google will also partner with comic book publisher Amar Chitra Katha to interweave critical internet safety lessons through popular comic book characters across 8 Indian languages.