Palace warns vs Marcos deepfake audio ordering military action

MANILA, Philippines — The Presidential Communications Office (PCO) issued a warning to the public about a video featuring manipulated audio of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. directing the military to take action against a foreign country.

"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.," PCO said in a statement Tuesday evening.

"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," it added.

Audio deepfakes are a type of artificial intelligence technology that can manipulate audio to sound like a specific person saying things they never did.

The audio manipulation comes at a time when relations between the Philippines and China have soured due to Beijing's growing assertiveness in the South China Sea.

China claims almost the entire waterway, a key route for international trade. It has ignored an international tribunal ruling in 2016, which stated that its claims have no legal basis.

PCO urged the public to be more mindful and responsible of the content they share on social media as it cited government measures to combat misinformation and disinformation.

"Let us all be more vigilant against such manipulated digital content that are deployed by actors to propagate malicious content online and advance a malign influence agenda," the office said. — Gaea Katreena Cabico with report from Agence France-Presse