Findings from experts on digital media and artificial intelligence (AI) have further debunked the authenticity of a video that circulated last July, showing a man purportedly “sniffing” illegal drugs.
AI experts from the Deepfakes Analysis Unit (DAU), which is part of the India-based Misinformation Combat Alliance, said that the video, which widely trended when it was released a day before President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. delivered his third State of the Nation Address, was extensively manipulated to make it appear as if the man in the video was the President.
The results by DAU were verified by Vera Files, an independent and award-winning social media unit and one of the country’s leading fact-checkers.
Presidential Communications (PCO) Acting Secretary Cesar Chavez said that the findings vindicated President Marcos from malicious individuals that have been trying to slander the President and cast aspersions on his character.
In an extensive report by Vera Files Fact Check, published last September 16 and written by writers Celine Isabelle Samson and Bryan Daniele Manalang, Vera Files said that it sent copies of the video to the India-based misinformation advocate.
It added that the DAU found traces of extensive digital manipulation on what has become known as the “polvoron video.”
Using a tool called SensityAI, DAU found the “polvoron video” to be suspicious and showed signs of a manipulation called “face swap,” the report said.
Using another tool called HIVE, the international misinformation advocates “found multiple points of manipulation in the video’s run-time and where the ‘no-deepfake’ and the deepfake manipulation overlapped,” the report added.
Last July 23, the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) both debunked the authenticity of the video. Both authorities said that the facial images of the man in the video did not dovetail or match with the President’s facial features.
Results from their video spectral analysis revealed that the tragal notch and the antitragus (parts of the ear) of the man in the video and those of the President were different.
Secretary Chavez warned the public to be wary of malicious videos and social media posts being circulated by malicious individuals. “In today’s world of trolls, bots, and deepfake manipulation, it has become easy to throw mud at others,” he explained.
However, Chavez said that the government will remain vigilant against fake news. The administration has also called on law enforcement agencies to ramp up their drive against misinformation and harmful digital and online posts. PND
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