Palace debunks viral deepfake video of President

PPA POOL

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang on Tuesday debunked a viral deepfake video of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. supposedly commanding the Armed Forces of the Philippines to act against a foreign country.

The Palace did not specify which video this was, or which streaming platform. However, the supposed deepfake was created amid heightened tensions with China over the West Philippine Sea.

“It has come to the attention of the Presidential Communications Office that there is video content posted on a popular video streaming platform circulating online that has manipulated audio designed to sound like President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.,” said Malacañang’s communication arm in a Facebook post.

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“The audio deepfake attempts to make it appear as if the President has directed our Armed Forces of the Philippines to act against a particular foreign country. No such directive exists nor has been made.  Deepfakes are an advanced form of digital content manipulation through the use of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI),” it assed.

Malacañang said that is working with the Department of Information and Communications Technology, the National Security Council, the National Cybersecurity Inter-Agency Committee to address the fake video, as well as other AI generated content.

“We ask everyone to be proactive in exposing and fighting against misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation. Let us remain and be more mindful and responsible of the content we choose to share in our shared digital spaces,” it added.