EDIITORIAL
It happened so fast in cyberspace that by the time many Filipinos were informed of its existence, the deepfake video was already taken down. Just the same, many saw it: others who are IT-savvy just laughed it out, but many became seriously concerned and scared about a war coming since they saw and heard President Bongbong Marcos purportedly ordering the Armed Forces of the Philippines to strike at a neighboring country.
It was a deepfake. That is the term used to describe an image or recording that has been convincingly altered and manipulated to misrepresent someone as doing or saying something that was not actually done or said.
And President Marcos was among its early victims.
It was established that the PCO learned about the video featuring the President through its mainstream media and social media platforms monitoring.
Then, the communication office informed the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and National Security Council (NSC) about the problem, and these two agencies investigate the issue. Nothing has been heard about these investigations so far.
It took the private sector, an advocacy group, to act on this problem.
Michael Raymond Aragon, chairperson of the Kapisanan ng Social Media Broadcasters ng Pilipinas, Inc. (KSMBPI), together with lawyer Anna Tan, led the filing of the complaint for violation of Article 154 (unlawful use of means of publication and unlawful utterances) of the Revised Penal Code in relation to Republic Act 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 against five personalities, which they did not identify.
The group filed their complaint last Tuesday before the Philippine National Police - Anti Cybercrime Group (PNP-ACG) against alleged perpetrators of social media videos manipulated using deepfake technology.
Deepfakes are an advanced form of digital content manipulation through generative artificial intelligence (AI), where a person in an image or video is swapped with another person's likeness.
“Meron kaming mga pinangalanan doon sa (We have respondents in our) complaint. We have websites at inaayos na namin ito (we are organizing these) and we are open to collaborating with any government agencies para maayos (so we can settle this). Maraming sites kasi sa isang site, so naka-cluster siya (There are many sites within a site so these are clustered) so more or less four to five initially (personalities),” Aragon told reporters after the filing of the complaint at the PNP-ACG office in Camp Crame.
He also said the group would ask Congress to pass a law creating a national social media regulatory board.
“We see a clear and present danger right now for the nation for our democracy. That’s why we are doing this and we would like the government to be with us. Because this is a technology na hindi alam ng tao na meron palang ganyan so nape-peke sila (Because this is a technology people are unaware of, they don't know that they are being victimized), then the tendency is to believe but beyond this pamemeke (act of faking), what I am saying is there is a clear and present danger (in) the technology of embedded algorithm,” Aragon explained.
Tan, meanwhile, said it is high time to crack down on this "abuse of the right to freedom of speech."
“They are using AI to make deepfake faces. They make it appear that the President or any other official made such remarks. Ordinary people would believe these if they see it. We cannot disclose the social media accounts and moderators yet because the filing is ongoing,” she added.
Meanwhile, PNP-ACG Cyber Response Unit chief Col. Jay Guillermo said the group's complaint would undergo initial verification. Lawyers in the PNP will study the complaint and explain what are the requirements needed for the filing of a formal complaint, in case they can identify the persons behind the deepfake material.
A deepfake video with a voice resembling that of the President, directing the Armed Forces of the Philippines to act against a particular foreign country, earlier circulated on social media.
Based on their initial investigation, Guillermo said they have identified an IP address but not the perpetrators as these are using a proxy server or a virtual private network, which is seen in other countries. The procedures take a bit longer because the IP address does not point to the exact culprit, he said, adding that identifying the person using an IP address is the very challenging part of the investigation as it would take months for law enforcement to identify who it is.
Cybercriminals may face charges for violating Article 154 of the Revised Penal Code, in connection with Section 6 and Section 4 (b) (3) of the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012.
We believe our officials are not bothered enough to prod them in acting swiftly on this problem of generative AI being used for shenanigans. The government should be proactive in dealing with this, before the malevolent hackers and AI hooligans strike again.
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