Hany Soh on Elections (Integrity of Online Advertising) (Amendment) Bill

Deepfakes pose the obvious danger of misleading people into believing falsities but as they become more widespread, they could confuse people to the point of not being able to tell fact from fiction, said MP Hany Soh. Speaking in Parliament on Tuesday (Oct 15) during the debate on a Bill to ban deepfakes during elections, she said that while excluding private or domestic communications rightly protects freedom of speech and privacy, it presents the risk of this being a channel that could be exploited for disseminating manipulated content. While corrective directions on deepfakes may be issued, she was concerned about the extent of reach and asked about the possibility of setting up a digital portal containing a repository of corrections issued. Ms Soh also wanted to know how long it is likely to take for the Returning Officer (RO) to respond to an election candidate’s request for a corrective direction, and what support the RO will be given for this responsibility, on top of their already critical duties.