Indonesian Govt Takes Down Thousands of Deepfake Accounts, Contents ahead of Regional Elections

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesia's Ministry of Communication and Informatics says it has taken down or deleted thousands of deepfake accounts and content.

"There were probably thousands of accounts and/or content that were taken down," the ministry's director general of public information and communication, Prabu Revolusi, said at the Ministry of Communication and Informatics office on Friday, September 13, 2024.

The removal was carried out both on the ministry's own initiative and by the administrators of the platforms that found deepfake content.

"The platforms also have their own moderation and they coordinate with us to remove content or accounts that are suspected of being fake," Prabu said.

Antara reported that the Communications Ministry is committed to supporting the General Elections Commission (KPU) in securing the upcoming regional head election, or pilkada, to ensure that it is peaceful and free from the risk of deepfakes.

Wijaya Kusumawardhana, Expert Staff to the Minister of Communications and Informatics for Social, Economic and Cultural Affairs, said they can help the KPU track, investigate and handle political deepfake content that could cause division during the 2024 Pilkada.

"If there is a problem with the misuse of technology, especially deepfake or other such things, of course we will help. We will help the KPU in finding out where and who did it," Wijaya told reporters in Jakarta on Monday (Sept 9).

Deepfake content created with the help of artificial intelligence, or AI, is often used to commit fraud, which is certainly harmful to the public. UK-based identity verification platform Sumsub revealed in its "Identity Fraud Report 2023" that deepfake cases in the Asia-Pacific region increased by 1,530 percent in 2023 compared to 2022.

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