MeitY collaborates with Google for online safety campaign

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and Google have announced a collaboration on cyber safety where Google will now work with the government to amplify its “Stay Safe Online” campaign.

Google will launch a series of videos featuring YouTube creators to educate users to responsibly share information online. The series will delve into specific skills to better evaluate the quality of information available online.

Creators will shed light on how to establish credentials of the source and understand their motivations, corroborate content with subject-matter experts, and gather cited and verifiable evidence. Additionally, YouTube has also established a digital literacy program called “Hit Pause”, which promotes critical thinking about online information.


“India's G20 Presidency offers a remarkable opportunity to shape a model of the internet that promotes inclusivity and establish new global standards,” Akash Tripathi, CEO of MyGov said. He added that with this growth came a need to raise awareness among the citizens about online risks and that the government was pleased to have Google join in with the effort.

“India is taking big strides towards its goal of becoming a trillion dollar digital economy. With over 700 million Indians using the internet, and the country driving transformative innovations with the power of digital technologies, it is important to ensure that the internet is inclusive and safe for all Indians,” Sanjay Gupta, Vice President of Google India said.

He added that the top priority at Google was to ensure a safe and helpful internet experience while supporting India’s digital growth.

Google has also said that it would be raising awareness of online safety through the “Be Internet Awesome” program sharing helpful content covering a wide range of online safety topics. These will be shared across the Google Safety Centre which serves as a single destination dedicated to educating users on the importance of digital safety, available in eight Indian languages.