Task Force ‘KKK sa Halalan’ formed vs AI-driven mis/disinformation

By Ferdinand Patinio, Philippine News Agency

NAVIGATING AI. The Commission on Elections launches “Task Force Katotohanan, Katapatan at Katarungan (KKK)” during a stakeholders’ forum and consultation dialogue at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City on Thursday (July 18, 2024). Also in the forum were (seated, from left) Malou Mangahas, co-convenor of Right to Know Right Now Coalition; Lito Averia, National Movement for Free Elections national chairperson; and lawyer Dana Batnag, data privacy manager of Radius Telecoms, Inc. (Photo: COMELEC/Facebook)

MANILA – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has formed a task force to protect the May 2025 polls against misinformation and disinformation using modern technology such as Artificial Intelligence (AI).

In a news release on Saturday, the poll body introduced “Task Force Katotohanan, Katapatan at Katarungan (KKK) sa Halalan” to monitor and regulate posted and published content on quad-media (TV, radio, print and online), including attacks or malicious information against Comelec and its officials and the electoral processes.

It would also undertake voter education and information efforts, and report and recommend prosecution of peddlers of misinformation, disinformation, malinformation, and malicious actors in the age of Al and deepfakes in elections.

Likewise, the Comelec is hopeful that the activation of the Task Force KKK sa Halalan would help set the tone for the crafting of further legislation in preparation not only for the 2025 polls but also during the first parliamentary elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and December 2025 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections.

The Task Force KKK sa Halalan launch at the University of the Philippines College of Law, Diliman, Quezon City on July 18 was participated in by the academic, legal and information technology communities, political parties and party-list organizations, citizens arms, and other interest groups.

It coincided with a forum and consultation dialogue titled “AI and Philippine Elections Decoded.”

During the forum, Comelec chair George Erwin Garcia appealed to the participants to help and support the poll body in coming up with sound policy guidelines in relation to disinformation and misinformation on social media and the internet, absent a law defining Al and deepfakes and punishing its misuse and abuse in our jurisdiction.

Commissioners Rey Bulay, Ernesto Ferdinand Maceda Ir., and Nelson Celis, also the Commissioner-in-Charge of the task force, led the official launch.