Source of 'deepfake' videos mimicking Marcos identified - Palace

MAN IN THE CENTER President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. (center) presides over the 15th Board Meeting of the National Economic and Development Authority on Thursday, April 25, 2024. PHOTO BY YUMMIE DINGDING/PPA POOL

MANILA, Philippines: Authorities have identified the possible source of the videos which used deepfake technology to mimic the voice and image of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Malacañang said Sunday.

The Presidential Communications Office (PCO) said the police traced the source of the audio manipulated with artificial intelligence to sound like the voice of the chief executive.

“But as to the extent of the involvement, that is still the subject of our investigation,” the PCO quoted Philippine National Police spokesman Colonel Jean Fajardo as saying during a briefing over the weekend.

The PNP Anti-Cybercrime Group (ACG) coordinated with the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) for a deeper probe into the deepfake audio recording and video uploaded online last week to make it appear that Marcos was instructing the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to take hostile action against a foreign country.

The ACG have since taken down the recording as well as a similar material from a different source. Both are the subject of the investigation by the PNP and the DICT.

“Whether this is intentional or not, those people behind this deepfake audio will be held accountable,” Fajardo said.