MCA And Meta Partner To Launch WhatsApp Tipline To Detect Deepfakes In India

The Misinformation Combat Alliance (MCA) has announced that its Deepfakes Analysis Unit (DAU), in partnership with Facebook parent Meta, will introduce a WhatsApp tipline on March 25.

The Misinformation Combat Alliance (MCA) has announced that its Deepfakes Analysis Unit (DAU), in partnership with Facebook parent Meta, will introduce a WhatsApp tipline on March 25 which will be aimed at identifying and addressing artificial intelligence (AI)-generated synthetic media in India. Introducing the WhatsApp tipline is a component of Meta's strategy to partner with industry stakeholders within the fact-checking ecosystem. This collaboration aims to develop tools that mitigate the dissemination of AI-generated misinformation.

At its launch, the Deepfakes Analysis Unit (DAU) will collaborate with various partners, including member fact-checking organisations, industry collaborators, and digital labs, to assess and authenticate content.

The Misinformation Combat Alliance (MCA) is a cross-industry coalition that unites companies, organisations, institutions, industry associations, and entities in combating misinformation and its repercussions.

Presently, the MCA comprises 16 members, encompassing fact-checking organisations, media platforms, and civic tech entities.

What Is MCA

MCA is a cross-industry alliance bringing companies, organisations, institutions, industry associations and entities together to collectively fight misinformation and its impact. Currently, MCA has 16 members including fact-checking organisations, media outlets, and civic tech and are inviting strategic partners to collaborate in this industry wide initiative to combat misinformation and create an enlightened and informed society. 

To recall, the MCA recently  announced its partnership with social networking giant Meta, formerly Facebook yo introduce a specialised fact-checking helpline on WhatsApp in India, in a bid to to counter AI-generated content. The helpline on the world's most-popular messaging platform will become accessible to the public in March. Notably, both India and the US go to elections this year.

Users will be able to flag deepfakes by sending it to the WhatsApp chatbot which will offer multilingual support in English and three regional languages in the country, including Hindi, Tamil, Telugu. The social networking giant mentioned that it has "pledged" to help prevent deceptive AI content from interfering with this year’s global elections.