Castro asks Comelec, DICT to take down deepfake videos linking her to rebels

House Deputy Minority Leader and ACT Teachers party-list Representative France Castro has asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to take down AI-generated videos falsely linking her and her allies to the armed communist rebels, and other fraudulent content on social media about the candidates in the May 2025 elections.

In a letter to Comelec Chairman George Garcia dated March 11, Castro said there is a proliferation of red-tagging content and disinformation videos online making her, the ACT Teachers Party-List, and the Makabayan coalition's senatorial candidates appear that they are with New People's Army.

Castro cited the poll body’s Resolution 11116 or the Anti-Discrimination and Fair Campaigning Guidelines, which categorizes red-tagging as “labeling” and thus an election offense.

“They are essentially urging the public not to vote for me and ACT Teachers Party-List. In this light, we request of the Commission in tandem with DICT and related agencies the following urgent action: the immediate implementation of measures to monitor, identify, watermark, and remove AI-generated deepfakes, cheap fakes, and similar fraudulent content during the election period,” said Castro, who is running for the Senate in the 2025 polls.

“We believe that spreaders of red-tagging and false information online will only get more vile and  damaging to the public as election day nears, if left unchecked. We therefore hope for your immediate and favorable consideration of our request,” she added.

In response, Comelec Chairman Garcia said the Comelec "is very much willing to assist."

Fake page

Castro said that the fake and malicious post involving her was published on March 6 2025, at 7:00 p.m. by a social media account pretending to be “Makabayan,” impersonating the progressive coalition’s Facebook page.

She described the account as a fan page that has been posting similar red-tagging and fraudulent photos, videos, and reels against other candidates in the Makabayan Coalition since the account was created on December 27, 2024.

Sending Comelec a screen recording of the account and its posts, Castro said the fake video remains up and that the account made at least three new posts on March 10, 2025—"all constituting false election propaganda."

“We believe that the above AI-generated video and red-tagger account are merely the tip of the iceberg, part of systematic disinformation operations intended not just to defeat our election to  the House of Representatives and the Senate, but more importantly, to demonize the legitimate issues for which we advocate,” she added.

The disinformation also puts the voters are a disadvantage since it seeks to “ disrupt the election process, cause confusion among voters, prevent the holding of credible and  honest elections, and defeat public participation.”

Saying that their complains "have all proven insufficient" to make the social media platforms take down the false content, Castro also asked Comelec to:

• ask Meta Philippines to immediately take down the video and other red-tagging and AI-generated fake content published by the account, and to suspend and disable the account;
• ask Meta to take the same actions against similar red-tagging accounts not only for violation of Facebook’s community standards, but for violating election laws; and
• investigate, with the NBI, the PNP, and the DICT, the accounts spreading red-tagging and fake content.

— BM, GMA Integrated News

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