MANILA — The Department of Information and Communications on Monday noted the need for government to come up with “more responsive and timely policies” to address cybercrimes, including the use of deepfake technology to misinform and mislead the public.

In a televised interview, DICT Secretary Ivan John Uy said there is a need to make social media platforms accountable for empowering misinformation.

“And other governments have already tried to address that. For example, Malaysia has just come out with the law that now requires social media platforms that are … that has a following of more than eight million are now required to get a license or a permit from the country. And that now puts more control by the country that if the social media platform misbehaves or allows misbehaviors, then they can be imposed with penalties,” Uy said.

Uy also noted that rather than have separate laws, there is a need for a more comprehensive law to address cybercrimes, which includes the imposition of penalties on social media platforms that enable such illegal acts.

“They’re enablers on this. If you would see, for example, AMLC, Anti-Money Laundering, the banks are enablers or financial institutions, and there are penalties that are imposed on them. Even if they are not the criminals themselves, but because they are able to facilitate that criminal activity, there are penalties that are imposed on them. I think, it should be in the same concept, that if you are an enabler of a criminal act, then there should be—so that the burden … because they are in full control of their platform; and countries, governments do not have control over that platform. So, if there is something that goes on there, I think, they should have more responsibility over that,” Uy said.

The DICT secretary, meanwhile, expressed concern that the use of deepfakes will be more rampant during the election period to malign or discredit candidates and ultimately influence the result of the elections.

“And that becomes even more destructive if, let’s say, they’re released a few days before people cast their ballot so that there is no more time anymore for the real person to say, “I never said that”,” he said.

“So those are the things that we are seeing. US elections coming up in November, and we are seeing a proliferation on that even in the United States. And it would appear that even a first world country, like the United States, is not really able to nip it or address it completely; there are still things popping up here and there.”

Uy said the public needs to be more discerning about what they consume on social media.

“We should not be swallowing everything hook, line and sinker. Today, information is so open and so accessible that anybody can be a broadcaster; anybody can be a commentator. Unlike before where broadcasting is limited to those that have the studios and the facilities to broadcast it, today, with the internet, any citizen, any person can become now an opinion maker; they call it a thought leader, and they can produce their own content. And depending on their popularity, they can have the captured audience based on their content,” he said.