MANILAtongits go, Philippines — The Commission on Elections will penalize candidates in next year's elections for using artificial intelligence in campaign materials if they fail to declare it or use it to spread disinformation about rivals or the country's electoral process.

According to Comelec's guidelines outlined in a September 17 resolution, the use of fake accounts, deepfakes and "fake news" will also be considered election offenses.

These rules cover the national and local elections and the Bangsamoro parliamentary elections, both of which will be held in May. 

Candidates in both elections are only allowed to use artificial intelligence if these come with a disclaimer or disclosure that is "clear, conspicuous, and not easily removed or altered," according to the guidelines. 

The disclaimer must also include a statement confirming that all individuals depicted in the "AI-manipulated" campaign material gave their prior consent to be shown.

Those who use AI to mislead or spread false information and/or do not comply with the poll body's transparency rules will be penalized. 

Banning bots, 'hyperactive users'

On top of banning the covert use of AI, the Comelec also seeks to prohibit the use of visual disinformation and "false amplifiers," among other acts, to campaign for or against an individual or party. 

According to the poll body, the following may be considered election offenses: 

Fake accounts, bots, and astroturf groups "filled with fake users" Coordinated inauthentic behavior and use of "hyperactive users" Creation and dissemination of deepfakes, cheapfakes and soft fakes Use of fake and unregistered social media accounts Creation and dissemination of fake news

Deepfakes are synthetic media where a person’s likeness is digitally altered or replaced using AI and machine learning techniques. This creates realistic videos or audio recordings of actions or words that never occurred.

Cheapfakes, also known as shallow fakes, are manipulated media made using simpler tools like basic video editing, often by speeding up or slowing down footage, and are easier to spot than deepfakes. Meanwhile, soft fakes involve subtle manipulations of context, such as misleading captions or selective editing, without altering the actual content itself, aiming to create a false narrative.

Procedures for filing an election offense case. Once the "Task Force KKK" or the Comelec's anti-disinformation body confirms the use of the prohibited acts, they will issue a show cause order to the candidate, party or campaign manager involved. 

This will then be followed by the filing of an election offense complaint before the law department against the alleged perpetrator.

The Comelec said it will also submit a request to the "technology platform of internet service provider" to take down the content. It may also file a complaint with the National Telecommunications Commission, Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center and the National Bureau of Investigation.

If a platform refuses to comply with the Comelec's anti-disinformation task force's request to take down the post, "a complaint shall be referred to the relevant agencies for appropriate action," the guidelines stated. 

"The immediate debunking of fake news published and disseminated against the Philippine election system, the COMELEC, or the electoral processes will also be shall also be undertaken by the Task Force KKK sa Halalan through publication... in the official COMELEC website and social media platforms," the resolution said.

Both electoral candidates and non-candidates campaigning for their electoral bets are also required to register their official social media accounts and websites with the poll body. 

The Comelec set the deadline for registration of social media accounts and website 30 days after the filing of the Certificates of Candidacy, or on December 13. 

The poll body's anti-disinformation task force will also partner with registered organizations, civil society and the legal academic community "to help educate voters, candidates, and other election stakeholders on the responsible and lawful use of social media, artificial intelligence technology, and internet technology during the election and campaign period."

Comelec Chairperson George Garcia said in June that the poll body will propose a memorandum of agreement with different social media platforms to help its monitoring and regulation of AI use and deepfakes in the upcoming elections.

Outlawing disinformation

In a hearing on House Bill 2820 or the proposed Internet and Social Media Regulation for Fair Elections Act in 2023, Comelec Commissioner Efraim Bag-id said they had trouble enforcing social media regulations during the 2022 polls as they could not take down false content online on their own.

More covert forms of disinformation deployed during the 2022 elections such as political influence operations had escape scrutiny as payments for these were left out of candidates' officially declared campaign expenses, a 2023 study by disinformation researchers found.

The study said that the government's regulations for electoral campaigns were "weak, poroustongits go, and exploited by politicians," and essentially gave campaign teams free reign to spend millions on political influencer contracts without having to disclose this to the poll body. 

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