MMDA asks cybercrime police to hunt down AI-made flood photos
The agency says manufactured photos of garbage-filled floodwater are criminal, and has tapped the police and the government cybercrime center. It has not named a single post yet.
The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority said on Wednesday it is preparing an investigation into fake photos and videos of flooding in Metro Manila. Some are old clips being reposted as if they were shot this week. Others, the agency says, were built with AI to show floodwater packed with mounds of garbage.
MMDA General Manager Nicolas Torre, who used to head the national police, said the agency is coordinating with the Philippine National Police and with the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center, the government unit under the technology department that handles online crime. The posts spread during weeks of heavy rain from tropical cyclones Luis and Maymay and from the habagat, the southwest monsoon.
There are old videos and outright manufactured, AI-generated photos that show floods with mounds of garbage, which is downright criminal and very malicious.
Why it matters
In a storm, people decide whether to leave the house based on what they see on their feed. A fake photo of a chest-deep street can push someone into a route that is fine, or make them shrug off a warning that is real. This is also the first time a Metro Manila agency has pointed the cybercrime unit at AI images during an actual weather emergency, which means fake disaster photos are now being treated as a police matter and not just bad posting.
The catch to watch
The MMDA has not named one specific fake post, and nobody has been charged. Torre also linked the fakes to people who refuse to accept the government's progress on flood control, so part of this is an argument about politics and not only about doctored images. Be careful with the obvious test, too. Garbage in floodwater does not make a photo fake. Torre confirmed real trash washed up in Baclaran, Paranaque, where crews have pulled at least 500 tons of waste out of one waterway since Sunday.