Sonia Bhaskar

Sonia Bhaskar is working as Programme Head with DataLEADS, an award-winning data-driven multiplatform initiative on the forefront of building capacity to tackle misinformation and disinformation and the impact of emerging technologies on the information ecosystem through training, collaborations, media research and innovation. Sonia worked with an interdisciplinary team to lead the execution of one of the biggest editorial collaborations to fight online misinformation during India’s General Elections in 2024. With its work spanning across 28 states and over 10 languages in India, the Shakti Collective, did start as an election fact-checking consortium with more than 300 journalists from 50-plus organisations - fact-checkers and newsrooms, but it soon widened its scope of work. Its strength by March 2025, grew to over 600 journalists and 120-plus organisations working across different genres of online misinformation and deepfakes, over and above elections. Sonia, a seasoned media professional with an experience of over 25 years in a leading media organisation in India, has trained over 1,000 journalists and journalism students in fact checking and verification tools, deepfake detection and responsible use of Artificial Intelligence in India and abroad. She is a Chevening fellow (2019), where she was one of the 17 journalists chosen for the South Asia Journalism Programme run by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office in association with University of Westminster in London. As part of the Chevening fellowship, Sonia did her research essay on Future Technology, Automation, and Artificial Intelligence: Boon or Bane for Journalists.