Deepfake videos of Singapore Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong were created and spread on TikTok, falsely showing him making statements about international relations and investment opportunities.
In June 2024, deepfake videos of Singapore Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong were discovered on TikTok, falsely depicting him making statements about international relations and foreign leaders. Two videos were identified: one posted two days prior with over 146,000 views showing him apparently discussing US-China relations and the South China Sea, and another posted six days earlier with over 190,000 views. The deepfakes used AI techniques to manipulate existing footage from his 2022 National Day Rally speech and a media interview. This was not the first incident, as in December 2023, another deepfake video showed Lee endorsing a fraudulent investment scheme purportedly designed by Elon Musk, using manipulated footage from a CGTN interview. Lee warned the public about these videos on Facebook, stating their malicious intent to make it appear he or the Singapore government supported these views, calling them 'dangerous and potentially harmful to our national interests.' TikTok confirmed awareness of the videos and removed them, citing strict policies against misleading AI-generated content showing public figures in false contexts. The platform indicated ongoing investment in detection and industry partnerships to address this rapidly evolving technology.
Domain classification, causal taxonomy, severity scores, and national security assessments were LLM-classified and may contain errors.
Using AI systems to conduct large-scale disinformation campaigns, malicious surveillance, or targeted and sophisticated automated censorship and propaganda, with the aim of manipulating political processes, public opinion, and behavior.
AI system
Due to a decision or action made by an AI system
Intentional
Due to an expected outcome from pursuing a goal
Post-deployment
Occurring after the AI model has been trained and deployed