Google Announces $35Mln In Ukraine Refugee Aid, $10Mln To Fight Disinformation - CEO

Google is donating $35 million for aid to Ukrainian refugees and spending another $10 million to set up a "Jigsaw initiative" to counter what it call "disinformation" about the conflict, company CEO Sundar Pichai announced on Tuesday

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 29th March, 2022) Google is donating $35 million for aid to Ukrainian refugees and spending another $10 million to set up a "Jigsaw initiative" to counter what it call "disinformation" about the conflict, company CEO Sundar Pichai announced on Tuesday.

"Today, we announced several additional initiatives to help with these efforts, and to support the post-war recovery of Central and Eastern Europe," Pichai said in a statement. "To help the humanitarian aid efforts on the ground in Central and Eastern Europe, Google.org and Googlers have committed over $35 million in funding and in-kind support."

Pichai said the measure includes support for organizations focused on people in Ukraine, like Nova Ukraine and Fight for Right, as well as nonprofits supporting refugees in bordering countries, such as the Polish Center for International Aid, Hungarian Interchurch Aid and People in Need in Slovakia.

"A big part of the challenge is addressing the misinformation that is spreading about the realities and facts of the war in Ukraine. Today we're investing an additional $10 million for this effort, including new partnerships with think tanks and civil society organizations to conduct region-specific research into misinformation and disinformation, as well as cash grants to support fact-checking networks and nonprofits," PIchai said.

The new organization will be called Jigsaw and will function as a unit within Google that builds technology to counter threats to open societies, will partner with local experts and academics to develop approaches to both directly counter disinformation and help people more easily identify disinformation, Pichai added.