MANILA - The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) has warned of a possible increase in deepfakes and other artificial intelligence-generated fake videos as the 2025 mid-term elections near.

Amid such threat, stakeholders are calling for a law that will address concerns on the said technology.

“Mas advanced lang ngayon ang cognitive warfare because they can mimic actual personalities. This is the use of fake news or disinformation in order to shape people’s opinion,” DICT Undersecretary Jeffrey Ian Dy told the House Committee on Information and Communications and the House Committee on Public Information in a briefing on Tuesday.

“There are news reporters na nag-endorse daw ng isang produkto gamit ang kanyang video, pati ang kanyang audio recording dinub sa video niya to make it look like that she is endorsing a particular product when in fact she did not,” he explained.

“We believe that especially with the upcoming elections, this particular threat might increase, and we might be unable to cope with the volume of the expected influx of requests to take down AI-generated false statements and false news,” Dy said.

“Na-obserbahan ko, wala pa tayong batas sa deep fakes, malapit na pong mag-eleksyon, dapat gumawa tayo ng batas tungkol dito para mapagbawalan o ma-regulate ang paggamit ng AI,” cybersecurity analyst Art Samaniego Jr. said.

The DICT said victims of deepfakes can reach out to the agency and the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Council so they can take down the online material.

Experts also urged the public to scrutinize the videos and photos they see online, especially those from suspicious accounts.

Samaniego also stressed the need to educate the public on the risks of cyberattacks and how to stay safe online. He advised the government to invest in research and the acquisition of new cybersecurity technologies and solutions.

House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez had called for a briefing from the DICT amid recent cyberattacks on several Philippine government websites supposedly from Chinese hackers. 

The breaches have targeted domains such as the cabsec.gov.ph, coastguard.gov.ph, cpbrd.congress.gov.ph, dict.gov.ph, doj.gov.ph, ncws.gov.ph, and the private domain of President Ferdinand "Bongbong” Marcos Jr.

The DICT said there is evidence suggesting that the perpetrators may have operated through Chinese networks, but there is no evidence directly linking the incidents to the Chinese government.

“Investigation showed that the attackers have multiple IP addresses coming from cnc.net, which is located in China. OWWA detected a total of 17,144 attempts from January alone, coming from multiple Chinese IP addresses,” Dy said.

“Our investigation currently holds circumstantial evidence suggesting that alleged perpetrators may have operated through Chinese networks and utilized tactics, techniques and procedures associated with known Chinese advanced persistent threat actors. However, it is crucial to understand that at this stage, we lack direct evidence conclusively linking these incidents to be having the authorization of the Chinese government,” he stressed.

Romualdez had expressed commitment that the House of Representatives stands ready to support any legislative action necessary to enhance the country’s cybersecurity and protection digital threats.