Written Reply to Parliamentary Question on Process for Coordinating Technical Takedown, Legal Assistance and Victim Support Across Ministries for Deepfake-Related Crimes

Question:

Ms He Ting Ru: To ask the Minister for Home Affairs (a) what is the current process for coordinating technical takedown, legal assistance and victim support across the Ministries for deepfake-related crimes; (b) how does the response time and inter-agency coordination for deepfake incidents compare to those handled by the Anti-Scam Centre (ASC); and (c) given the unique technical challenges of deepfakes, what considerations have been given to centralising the response to such incidents, similar to the ASC model.

Answer:

Mr K Shanmugam, Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Law:

1. The Police do not differentiate their takedown protocols, investigation timelines or victim support measures specifically based on whether the crime is deepfake-related or not.

2. For online criminal activities, including those involving deepfake-related content, the Police can issue directions to online service providers under the Online Criminal Harms Act. Providers of designated online services are also required to put in place measures to disrupt scams and malicious cyber activities, including those facilitated by deepfakes, under the Codes of Practice which were introduced in June 2024.

3. Where there is any deepfake-related crime committed, the Police will consider the predicate offence involved, and investigate the offence, including working with other agencies where necessary.

4. To deal with the technical challenges of deepfakes, the Police have been working with the Home Team Science and Technology Agency to develop technologies to detect AI-generated audios and videos. The Centre for Advanced Technologies in Online Safety is also building tools to detect harmful online content, including deepfakes.