COMMISSION on Elections (Comelec) will begin regulating the misuse of social media and artificial intelligence (AI) to ensure cleaner elections.
On Wednesday, Comelec issued guidelines for the use, ban, and punishment of technology misuse in the digital campaign for the 2025 national and local elections (NLE) and Bangsamoro elections.
The Comelec Education and Information Department (EID) will lead the implementation of the said election campaigning guidelines.
The resolution says
All candidates, parties, and campaign teams must register all official social media accounts and pages, websites, podcasts, blogs, and vlogs, as well as any other online or internet-based campaign platforms.
These campaign platforms must be registered with the EID within 30 calendar days of filing certificates of candidacy (COC), or by December 13, 2024.
The election task group will then analyze the application and recommend whether it should be approved or denied by the commission. Those that are authorized will be posted on Comelec’s official website and social media channels.
Usage of AI
The usage of AI has been heavily criticized, regardless of the individual’s field of work. As a result, all candidates and parties must provide a disclosure for any election or campaign materials developed by AI.
Moreover, the disclosures and disclaimers “shall be clear, conspicuous, and not easily removed or altered, must remain visible or audible for a sufficient duration both before and after the campaign material is presented”.
The disclosure must also say that the content was created with AI, explain the nature and degree of the manipulation, and certify that the individuals depicted gave their approval.
Meanwhile, Comelec chairperson George Erwin Garcia stated on Thursday, on the sidelines of a Senate hearing on their proposed 2025 budget, that establishing a set of guidelines was essential during this election.
“Minarapat naitn agad na mag-issue ng guidelines patungkol sa AI, digital campaign, paggamit ng deep fakes, at social media in general,” said Garcia.
“We’re hoping na sana ito ay makaligtas sa legal scrutiny ng mga magagaling na abogado. Sana mabigyan nila ng chance.”
“First time ito na ginawa at gagawin ng Comelec na magkakaroon tayo ng regulation patungkol sa social media. Regulated natin ang dyaryo, radyo, ang TV, bakit ang social media walang regulation?” he added.
Nonetheless, if the criteria are breached, candidates or parties will be served with a show cause order, which requires them to explain why a complaint should not be filed against them.
