As cyber threats continue to evolve, Google is strengthening its digital safety initiatives in India, focusing on fraud prevention, cross-industry collaboration, and digital literacy. On Safer Internet Day 2025, the tech giant reaffirmed its commitment to protecting users from online scams and financial fraud, with expanded efforts under DigiKavach, its initiative to combat digital threats.
To address the growing threat of cyber fraud, Google launched the ‘Mauka Gawao’ campaign under DigiKavach, raising awareness about fraudulent job, investment, and loan schemes. The initiative has already reached 177 million Indians and continues to expand.
Google is ramping up its in-house security across its platforms, implementing AI-powered fraud detection and real-time protection mechanisms.
Key security improvements:
• Enhanced Play Protect: Since its India launch in November 2024, it has blocked 13.9 million installation attempts of harmful apps, protecting 3.2 million devices. • Global real-time threat scanning: Google Play Protect now scans 200 billion apps daily, preventing over 13 million malicious apps from operating outside the Play Store. • Financial fraud prevention: Google Pay detected and blocked fraudulent transactions worth ₹13,000 crores, issuing 41 million security warnings to Indian users. • Content moderation on YouTube: In Q3 2024, YouTube removed over 4.1 million channels and 85,000 videos for violating policies on scams and deceptive practices.
To improve digital awareness, Google piloted ShieldUp!, a game-based learning program designed to help users recognise online scams. Early results indicate users were better able to detect fraudulent schemes, with the effect lasting even 21 days after playing the game.
Google has partnered with the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre and integrated Google Pay with the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal, helping authorities track fraudulent transactions.
Additionally, Google has joined the Safer Internet India Coalition, a consortium of digital services, banks, telecom providers, and fintech firms working to enhance user safety and combat cybercrime in India.
Through its philanthropic arm, Google.org, the company is funding digital literacy programs:
• CyberPeace Foundation: Trained 197,000 individuals in fact-checking and responsible online behaviour. • The Asia Foundation: Collaborating with MSME clusters and CUTS International to equip 45,000 small businesses with cybersecurity knowledge.
Google is also tackling AI-generated misinformation with SynthID, a technology that embeds metadata tags in AI-generated content to distinguish between real and synthetic media. On YouTube, creators are now required to label AI-generated or altered content, ensuring transparency for viewers.