Google Launches Safety Charter To Fight AI Scams and Deepfakes In India

Google's Safety Charter aims to tackle online fraud, deepfakes, cybersecurity challenges and promote responsible AI development in India's growing digital economy.

Google Addressing the Growing Threat of Cybercrime in India

India is experiencing a sharp rise in online fraud and cybercrime. Scammers are increasingly relying on advanced technologies such as deepfake videos, voice cloning and AI-generated content to deceive users and impersonate credible organisations. According to estimates, UPI-related frauds alone cost Indians over ₹1,087 crore in 2024, with potential total losses from cybercrime projected to reach ₹20,000 crore in 2025 if not addressed.

Launch of the Safety Charter to build trust

In response to these emerging threats, Google has introduced its Safety Charter for India. This initiative sets a strategic roadmap to build trust in the digital ecosystem by focusing on user protection, infrastructure security and ethical AI development. It was unveiled at the ‘Safer with Google India Summit’ by Preeti Lobana, Vice President and Country Manager at Google India.

Promoting user safety and responsible AI practices

The Safety Charter outlines three priority areas. First is protecting end users from online scams and fraud. The second is ensuring strong cybersecurity practices across government and enterprise sectors. Third is promoting the responsible development of artificial intelligence in ways that are inclusive and secure. Google emphasised that safety, security and trust must not be treated as an afterthought in digital innovation.

Significant Results Through AI-Powered Tools

Google’s efforts are already showing a tangible impact. Its 'Digikavach' programme has reached over 177 million Indians with AI-driven fraud prevention tools and awareness campaigns. AI integration across Google platforms is proving effective in detecting scams early. Google Search now detects 20 times more scam-related pages. Impersonation attacks on customer service portals and government sites have declined by over 80% and 70%, respectively.

Blocking scams with Real-Time AI Protections

Google Messages is actively blocking over 500 million scam texts every month, while over 2.5 billion suspicious link warnings have been issued using on-device AI. Since the launch of Google Play Protect in India in October 2024, the service has blocked nearly 6 crore high-risk app installation attempts on 13 million devices, providing a strong line of defence against malicious software.

Google Pay’s Role in Preventing Financial Fraud

In 2024 alone, Google Pay successfully prevented financial fraud amounting to ₹13,000 crore. This highlights the effectiveness of combining AI-enabled threat detection with real-time monitoring and policy enforcement. The company credits its success to early warning systems and cross-sector intelligence sharing.

Collaboration with IIT-Madras for Cryptography Research

To bolster long-term security, Google is working with IIT-Madras to advance Post-Quantum Cryptography. This collaboration is focused on developing privacy-focused anonymous tokens that enable secure digital interactions in the future. It reflects Google’s commitment to innovation in next-generation data protection.

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Conclusion

Google has also made efforts to ensure AI-generated content is traceable. Its SynthID project has watermarked over 10 billion AI-generated assets using invisible digital signatures. In addition, the company is refining inclusive AI through its Gemini Language Testing and IndicGenBench programmes, which are designed to improve performance across 29 Indic languages for cultural relevance and accessibility.

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