Misinformation Combat Alliance (MCA) and Meta on Monday announced the launch of a fact checking helpline on WhatsApp. Its purpose is to deal with deepfakes and AI-generated misleading content.
This service is expected to be available to the general public from next month i.e. March. Through this, users will be able to mark deepfakes on WhatsApp's chatbot. Meta said the chatbot will support three regional languages including English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.
Shivnath Thakral, Director (Public Policy India), Meta, said, 'We are aware of the misinformation concerns arising from AI and we believe that concrete measures need to be taken across the industry to tackle it.'
He said, 'MCA and Meta are working on launching a fact-checking helpline on WhatsApp in an effort to deal with content created using Artificial Intelligence (AI).
AI generated content can deceive people on matters of public interest. Such content is commonly referred to as deepfakes. The purpose of this service is to help people connect with verified and reliable information.
The effort to crack down on deepfakes is being done at a time when preparations are being made for general elections in the world's largest democracy. Lok Sabha elections are to be held in India in April-May this year.
Last week, the world's top 20 tech companies, including Microsoft, Meta, Google, Amazon and IBM, signed an agreement to tackle AI-generated misinformation ahead of this year's elections.
In November last year, Union Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnav had stressed on watermarking and labeling of content to deal with deepfakes. He had two rounds of discussions with experts on the issue of deepfakes and fake information.
The minister had said that although watermarking and labeling are basic requirements, many miscreants have found ways to get around them. The Indian government has also said that it will bring stringent provisions to deal with deepfakes under the IT Rules, 2021 through a new amendment.
As part of the agreement with META in India, MCA will set up a 'Deepfake Analysis Unit' to manage all inbound messages received on the WhatsApp helpline.
Bharat Gupta, president of the Misinformation Combat Alliance, said, “Deepfake Analytics Unit (DAU) is important to stop the spread of AI-generated misinformation among social media and internet users in India.”
