THE Communications Ministry has instructed the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to ask Meta to remove artificial intelligence-manipulated videos of Bernama TV news on Facebook. 

Deputy Minister of Communications Teo Nie Ching said she had sent the links for the fake news videos – which depict the faces of Bernama TV news anchors reading reports on dubious investment schemes – to the commission for further action. 

“This is not the first time that malicious individuals or scammers have used AI technology to create or produce such videos. A few months ago, I also noticed some parties using a video of Anwar Ibrahim, altering his speech to supposedly encourage the public to join an investment scheme. 

“We cannot deny that AI technology has many benefits, but there are also risks when scammers use it for fraudulent purposes. Therefore, it is crucial that when the public receives or sees videos like this, they can file complaints with Meta or MCMC,” she said before appearing on Bernama TV’s “The Nation: Future of Media and Communications” programme at Wisma Bernama today.

Teo said the authorities were faced with the challenge of identifying the Facebook account owners who created the fake videos, considering that some of them operated from abroad. 

 “There is no guarantee that new (fake) videos will not be created again, before using PMX videos, now Bernama videos, so as internet users, we need to be careful,” she said. 

Teo advised the public to ensure the validity of all information and news they received by using various fact-checking platforms, in addition to improving their digital literacy. 

“We need to be careful about the various risks that exist in this digital world, given that Malaysia is one of the countries where our citizens spend the longest time on the internet; our average screen time is 8 hours and 6 minutes a day,” she said. 

Meanwhile, Bernama TV head Nor Hamzeela Md Hambali said police reports regarding the videos were lodged by her today. 

She said there were two fake Bernama TV news videos uploaded by two different Facebook accounts: “Cyber Community Convergence” and “Exactly Straight”. – Bernama, January 18, 2024.