MANILA — Legislators must enact laws that will allow the government regulate social media and other platforms and to curb the spread of deepfakes, Scam Watch Pilipinas Co-Founder Jocel De Guzman said, as news personalities, business tycoons and celebrities continue to become victims of fake video and audio contents. 

ScamWatch Pilipinas is an active partner of the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC), an attached agency of the Department of Information and Communications Technology.

During the Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines and San Miguel Corp’s annual business journalism seminar, De Guzman said the impact of deepfake, not just in the 2025 midterm elections, could be “widespread.”

“Definitely malawak,” he said when asked if the surge in these kinds of content on social media could cause disruptions. 

In 2024, cybercrime complaints, including deepfakes, reached 10,004, based on the data from CICC. In the first quarter of 2025, or from January to March, reports have reached 3,251 but there could be more unreported cases, ScamWatch Pilipinas said.

“Ang problem na nilalakad namin ngayon, even in the Congress, is the regulation of these social media companies. Ang sinasabi namin kahit na magbigay ng guidelines si Comelec na bawal ang deepfake, o nadetect ng CICC uy deepfake yan, yung request for a takedown it takes a while,” De Guzman said.

“Yung need talaga dito is to regulate, the problem is hindi natin sila maregulate,” he added.

But De Guzman also underscored that both the government and the private sector are actively implementing policies to mitigate the proliferation of deepfakes.

Malacanang Palace, for one, has announced the creation of a National Deepfake Task Force headed by the Presidential Communications Office in partnership with the CICC and the DICT.

Gov't to set up National Deepfake Task Force

Several bills were also filed in Congress to regulate social media, and artificial intelligence as well as to stop the spread of deepfakes, including House Bill 10567, or the Act Exacting Accountability and Transparency in the Production or Distribution of Deepfakes in the Philippines to Prevent Threats from its exploitation or Misuse. 

De Guzman also said the government must continue building its manpower since there are 84 million mobile phone users in the country, with only about a few thousand forensic experts operating the CICC’s hotline 1326. 

And despite training under global experts such as the US-based National White Collar Crime Center, there’s also not enough cybersecurity experts under the National Bureau of Investigations and the Philippine National Police, he said.

“'Yung mga tao kasi sa 1326 hindi sila call center agent, mga forensic expert po sila kaya kung na-hack ang Facebook n'yo puwede nila kayong tulungan paano ma-recover,” De Guzman said.

News anchors targeted by deepfake scammers on Facebook

In a recent briefing, TikTok said it deleted 4.5 million videos from its platform in the Philippines from July to September 2024 due to violations of its community guidelines. 

Google also has policies in place for YouTube. Meta, who operates Facebook, meanwhile has not released a recent report on takedowns in the Philippines. 

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