Public told to be vigilant as ‘deepfake’ videos are getting real

Users are being advised to be discerning about what they watch and share on social media as deepfake videos continue to proliferate,  looking like the real thing.

According to a report by Raffy Tima on State of the Nation with Jessica Soho, even tech experts are alarmed by the fake videos that are spreading because they dupe many viewers.

Opposition Senator Leila de Lima is the latest victim after a spliced video of her delivering a privilege speech resurfaced after three years.  In the speech, it was made to appear that she was admitting that she is a protector of detained drug lords.

The spliced version of De Lima’s privilege speech at the Senate about extrajudicial killings on Aug. 2, 2016 was first posted by Pinoy Republic on Facebook last Aug. 8, 2016 with a misleading and false caption that partly read: “Umamin na ang De Lima na isa siyang protector ng droga.”

“Nabalitaan ko na isang manufactured video o spliced version ng ating privilege speech tungkol sa extrajudicial killings noong Agosto 2016 ang kumakalat online upang sirain ang aking imahe at dumihan ang pagiisip ng bawat Pilipino,” De Lima said in a statement.

“Pinanood ng mga staff ko yung video na yan. Sabi nila, halatang edited ang video na ginawa. Patuloy itong ipinakakalat ng bayarang trolls para linlangin ang mga Pilipino at siraan ang mga personalidad katulad ko na tutol sa baluktot na polisiya ng gobyerno,” she added.

Geri Asuncion, digital effects artist, said the video showing De Lima was apparently fake.

"Inisplice yung video to form another sentence, kumbaga, iba sa sinasabi nya, so cut-to-cut edit, very simple," he said.

Tech expert Art Samaniego said, "Hindi lahat ng nakikita natin sa social media, totoo.  Double sourcing dapat yung gawin ng mga tao."

"Ang deep fake ay isang AI-based technology para gumawa ng video at ipakita ang mga bagay na hindi nangyari, as in hind s'ya nangyari so fake s'ya,
galing s'ya sa salitang deep learning at fake kaya tinawag syang deep fake," he said.

Asuncion warned that makers of fake videos have become more sophisticated, producing something that the ordinary viewers would sometimes find hard to distinguish from the real ones.

"Makuha mong realistic yung pag-shift ng face, nakakagulat, di ko inakalang ganun na pala ka advanced," he said.

The tech experts said social media users should examine the video and its content carefully before sharing, so that they would not become agents of spreading deepfakes. —LDF, GMA News