Google move to make digital space safer

New Delhi: Google on Tuesday announced a major initiative to make India’s digital space safer by unveiling its new ‘Safety Charter’ during the ‘Safer with Google India Summit’. Google’s ‘Digikavach’ programme, a key part of the initiative, has already reached over 17.7 crore Indians with AI-powered tools and awareness campaigns against financial scams.

Google’s Search now identifies 20 times more scam websites, and scam attacks on customer service and government platforms have dropped by 80 per cent and 70 per cent, respectively.

On the messaging side, Google Messages is blocking over 500 million scam texts every month.Google Pay, which is widely used in India, has sent out over 4.1 crore alerts to warn users about possible frauds. It also helped prevent fraud worth Rs 13,000 crore in 2024 alone. The company’s app safety system, Google Play Protect, has blocked nearly 6 crore risky app installs across 1.3 crore devices since it was piloted in India in October 2024.Gmail, which is used by billions globally, is automatically stopping more than 99.9 per cent of spam, phishing attempts and malware.

Google is also working to strengthen cybersecurity on a larger scale. To further support the ecosystem, Google.org has pledged $20 million to expand the Asia-Pacific Cybersecurity Fund, including $5 million to The Asia Foundation.This will help set up 10 new cyberclinics in the region and partner with Indian universities to train students and small businesses in digital safety. Another key partnership was announced with IIT-Madras to advance Post-Quantum Cryptography.

Preeti Lobana, Vice President and Country Manager for Google India, said that building trust in India’s digital infrastructure is crucial to the country’s development goals.She added that Google’s AI systems are already able to detect never-before-seen scams and attacks, giving users an added layer of protection.