Science, Discovery, Tech and Environment · 4 March 2026
Google and Bharti Airtel partner to integrate AI spam filters and sender ID checks into RCS chats on Google Messages app
Exam-focused facts from the 4 March 2026 current affairs briefing.
Key facts
- Google and Bharti Airtel announced their partnership on 1 March 2026 to deploy Airtel’s AI-powered spam filters and threat detection within RCS chats on the Google Messages app.
- The collaboration enables Google’s RCS platform to validate message sender identity using business identity checks performed by Airtel.
- The platform will respect users’ Do Not Disturb (DND) preferences by categorising messages as promotional or transactional and applying restrictions accordingly.
- If both Google and Airtel’s AI filters flag a sender as suspicious, the platform will throttle the number of messages that account can send.
- The partnership aligns with the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) SIM-binding mandate for over-the-top (OTT) messaging apps that took effect on 1 March 2026.
- Airtel reports its anti-spam measures have blocked 71 billion spam calls and 2.9 billion spam SMSes, cutting financial losses from scams by 68.7% on its network.