The Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) is investigating reports of altered photos of former Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Benjamin 'Benhur' Abalos circulating on social media. In a statement on Thursday, CICC Executive Director Alexander Ramos said these 'cheapfakes' include a photo of a political banner of Abalos that says 'Kalaban ng Kriminal (Enemy of Criminals) Benhur Abalos' that has been altered to say 'Kalaban at Kriminal (Enemy and Criminal) Benhur Abalos' instead. Such altered photos, Ramos said, may be held liable under Commission on Elections (Comelec) Resolution 11064 or the 'Guidelines on the Use of Social Media, Artificial Intelligence, and Internet Technology for Digital Election Campaign' promulgated in September. In particular, he said the resolution refers to 'cheapfakes' as forms of visual disinformation for which authentic images or videos are deliberately re-contextualized to alter their meaning. Any individual found guilty of p ropagating disinformation and misinformation to endorse or campaign against a candidate, party, the Comelec, or the Philippine election system may also be found guilty of violating Section 261 (z) (11) of the Omnibus Election Code. 'Punishable under the law include the creation and dissemination of deepfakes, cheapfakes, and soft fakes for the aforementioned purposes; use of fake and unregistered social media accounts during the election and campaign period for the same purposes; and the creation and dissemination of fake news in furtherance of the aforementioned purposes,' he said. The CICC, he said, is in close collaboration with Comelec in preparation for the 2025 national elections. He called on the public to report to the Inter-Agency Response Center (IARC) Hotline 1326 for any deepfakes, cheapfakes, or disinformation related to the coming elections. Source: Philippines News agency