In response to President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s directive to safeguard the public from deepfakes and online scams, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) is working closely with the private sector to address these emerging digital threats effectively.

During a press briefing in Malacañang on Wednesday, DICT Secretary Henry Aguda said the DICT has consulted with the telecommunications companies’ technical and legal teams to develop a framework for a unified dashboard, which will display in real-time sites for the quick removal of illegal activities.

Aguda said the government is addressing the growing threat of deepfakes and increasingly sophisticated online scams carried out by cybercriminals.

“So, dalawa iyong sektor na kailanganin naming kausapin na masinsinan na tutulong talaga sa atin sa pag-takedown ng deepfake,” Aguda said.

The telecommunications companies are working on the technical designs, while the policy and regulatory part will be done by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC), and the National Privacy Commission (NPC).

“So, this month, matatapos iyong aming final design; next month, i-implement na po natin. Magkakaroon kayo nang matinding experience na mababawasan iyong mga iyan,” Aguda said.

Another critical factor in addressing the issue is through preventive measures on social media platforms, he said.

This area is important because social media platforms have the ability to proactively prevent illegal content from being streamed online.

“Ang tawag po doon sa mekanismo na iyon ay geo-blocking/geo-locking,” Aguda said.

“Iyong same mechanism po ng technology na iyan, iyon iyong sinasabi ko sa mga streaming platform at sa mga social media platform, alam ninyo kaya ninyo namang i-prevent iyang proactively eh, i-prevent na namin,” he said. | PND