‘Malicious’: Philippine officials slam deepfake video of Marcos Jnr allegedly doing drugs

A viral video allegedly showing Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr doing drugs has caused serious concern among government officials, who called it a “maliciously crude attempt” to undermine his government.

Analysts warn that the deepfake technology likely used to make the video represents an increasingly serious threat to the Philippines, which has already seen several other high-profile instances of AI being used to generate disinformation meant to cause political instability.

The new viral video was released by Duterte supporters during a rally in the United States before Marcos Jnr’s State of the Nation Address on Monday, according to the Department of National Defence.

“The obviously fake video being circulated emanating from a Maisug gathering in Los Angeles is again a maliciously crude attempt to destabilise the administration of President Marcos Jnr. They will not succeed!” defence ministry spokesman Arsenio Andolong said in a statement.

Maisug, which means brave, is a group associated with the Duterte family.

Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jnr assured the public the military would continue to support Marcos Jnr’s administration and follow the chain of command.

“It is obvious from the video that that is not our president. Their video is fake and obviously not real,” Teodoro said.

“We will resist and fight these childish attempts to weaken the constitution and our institutions. We will coordinate with all government agencies to suppress those behind this unpleasant and horrible plot.”

The Department of Justice condemned the “fake video”, saying it would pursue necessary actions to identify and prosecute those behind the material.

“The timing of the release of this fake video, occurring just before the