Google has affirmed its commitment to supporting Thailand’s upcoming general election on May 14, with a focus on providing voters with easy access to unbiased and credible information related to the democratic process.
Efforts will be centered on promoting high-quality information from reliable sources through Google’s search results, recommendations, and information panels. YouTube’s affiliated news outlets and breaking news sections will also highlight quality journalism.
To facilitate access to relevant data for the media and general public, Google has launched a Thailand General Election page on Google Trends. The company is also training journalists and newsrooms on how to report credible and authoritative news ahead of the election cycle through its News Initiative (GNI) program, in collaboration with Cofact, Sure and Share, AFP Thailand, and Punch Up.
To address misinformation, Google has implemented policies to combat election misinformation, Covid-19 medical misinformation, and vaccine misinformation on its platforms. Additionally, the company has deployed the Advanced Protection Program and Project Shield, which is a free service that uses Google technology to protect news sites from Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks on the web.
Mukpim Anantachai, Head of YouTube Partnerships for Thailand and Vietnam, emphasized the platform’s commitment to election integrity and the implementation of policies and systems to support the election. She also stated that YouTube aims to maintain a balance between protecting its community from harmful content and enabling a diversity of viewpoints to thrive.