Google.org has announced a $4 million grant to the CyberPeace Foundation to establish an awareness-building program and comprehensive multilingual digital resource hub in India.

The grant will support a multilingual online resource center with content available in up to 15 Indian languages to empower nearly 40 million underserved people across the country in building resilience against misinformation and practice responsible online behavior. To that end, it will offer 650 hours of free multimedia content and learning materials on identifying and countering misinformation and on developing responsible online content, in English as well as Hindi, Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Kannada, Odia (Oriya), Malayalam, Punjabi, Assamese, Maithili, Santali, and Kashmiri. The resource center also will establish helplines across states and regional clusters to identify misinformation and share advisories against that misinformation, as well as teams of experts in digital forensics, social media, and fact checkers, providing real-time support to contain the spread and public impact of cyber threats and misinformation campaigns.

“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 well-being and [that] of our families and communities,” said CyberPeace founder Vineet Kumar. “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.”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/nicomenijes)