Google will contribute USD25 million to the newly set up European Media and Information Fund to combat fake news, the company said on Wednesday, amid criticism tech giants are not doing enough to debunk online disinformation.

Last year, Google had announced a USD 1 million Google.org grant to help Internews launch a new initiative promoting news literacy among the Indian public. The funding support is part of Google.org’s broader, USD 10 million commitment to media literacy, in collaboration with the Google News Initiative (GNI).

The COVID-19 pandemic and the U.S. election last year spurred a massive spike in misinformation, with some blaming social media for not being more proactive in tackling the issue while regulators have indicated they may take action via heavy-handed restrictions.

The European Media and Information Fund, launched by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and the European University Institute last week, aims to enlist researchers, fact-checkers, not-for-profits, and other public interest-oriented bodies to help in the fight against fake news.

"While navigating the uncertainty and challenges of the last year, it has proven more important than ever for people to access accurate information, and sort facts from fiction," Matt Brittin, head of Google's EMEA Business & Operations, said in a blog post.

The fund has a duration of five years. The European Digital Media Observatory, which is a European Commission project set up last year and whose members include fact-checkers and academic researchers, will evaluate and select the projects.

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