Former Singapore president Halimah Yacob has said she will file a police report after encountering a deepfake video that falsely portrayed her making critical remarks about the government.
In a Facebook post published on 15 April, Mdm Halimah described the video as “completely false” and said it had convincingly mimicked her voice.
She expressed alarm over the implications of such technology being used during election season.
“This is scary how AI is being used to influence voters during this critical period,” she wrote.
While she did not accuse any party directly, Mdm Halimah appealed to all political groups to compete honourably in the upcoming General Election, widely expected to be called soon.
“Let’s maintain some decorum, decency and fairness… regardless of which side you are on,” she added. “Don’t resort to dirty tactics like this… It’s not a one-off boxing match.”
Mdm Halimah, who served as Singapore’s eighth president from 2017 to 2023, said she chose not to share the video in order to prevent its further circulation.
She was previously a Member of Parliament for the People’s Action Party (PAP), representing Jurong GRC from 2001 to 2015 and Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC from 2015 to 2017. She also served as Speaker of Parliament from 2013 to 2017.
As of the time of writing, neither The Online Citizen (TOC) nor members of the HardwareZone forum community had reported seeing the video, prompting some online speculation about whether it exists or will become publicly verifiable.
This latest incident has drawn comparisons to an episode from the 2020 General Election involving PAP MP Murali Pillai.
On 30 June, 2020, Murali issued a video statement alleging that his family had been subjected to a “scurrilous attack” via a post referencing his son’s past criminal conduct. He said the post surfaced just minutes after the election was declared in Bukit Batok SMC, where he was seeking re-election.
“My son was a victim of a scandal. He also committed offences. The court has dealt with all these matters,” said Murali, adding that the timing of the post “leaves nothing to imagination.”
Dr Chee Soon Juan, who was contesting against Murali in the SMC, publicly condemned the attack, saying he had not seen the post but was moved by Murali’s emotional response. He urged the public not to circulate such material.
However, that incident later became the subject of a separate police report filed on 8 July 2020 by a citizen named Royston Albert.
In his report, Albert questioned the existence of the post referenced by Pillai, claiming he had conducted extensive online searches but could not locate any such material apart from prior news articles about the MP’s son.
Albert wrote that he had found “no such post” on local platforms or social media on the date mentioned, raising concerns over whether Murali’s claims were themselves potentially misleading.
To date, there have been no public updates on the outcome of that report.
The parallels between both incidents raise broader concerns not only about the misuse of AI-generated disinformation, but also about the ways in which unverified or untraceable content — and even the mere claim of such content — can be used as part of political strategy.
In today’s highly digitalised political landscape, allegations of defamatory content — whether proven or not — can have significant impact. They can shape voter perception, garner sympathy, or cast suspicion on rival parties.
This dynamic raises critical questions: should political opponents be automatically blamed when offensive or false content emerges, simply because they stand on the other side?
And conversely, when accusations about fabricated content are raised but the content cannot be independently verified, does such a claim risk becoming a deflective tactic or a calculated narrative device?
It also raises another possibility — what if the video was created by someone aligned with the PAP, or sympathetic to its cause, without Mdm Halimah’s knowledge, and later brought to her attention? In such scenarios, intent, authorship, and attribution become even harder to trace, further complicating the matter.
Already, below Mdm Halimah’s Facebook post, there are comments alleging that members of the alternative parties could be behind the video — despite no political party or group having acknowledged it, and no public evidence yet surfacing to show that the video is in active circulation.
Adding to the irony, some of these comments appear to come from newly created accounts, some using AI-generated profile images, which are making unverified statements targeting the PAP’s political opponents.
It remains to be seen whether the video Mdm Halimah referenced will surface — or whether, like the alleged post about Murali Pillai’s son in 2020, it will remain unseen despite its supposed virality and political weight.
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