Deepfake porn is images or videos where the faces of individuals are digitally edited onto other pornographic images or videos using artificial intelligence. The pictures are therefore not real.
A South Korean broadcaster wrote in August about how university students ran an illegal chat room on the app Telegram, where they shared deepfake porn depicting their female classmates.
A number of similar high-profile cases have sparked anger in the population. Among other things, deepfake porn depicting teenagers is shared.
88 alerts in one week
– In light of these deepfake crimes, South Korea’s national police unit started an investigation of Telegram last week, says police chief Woo Jong-soo, who says the messaging service is accused of being complicit in the spread of such images and videos in the country.
– Telegram has not responded to our requests to be given information about the accounts used in crimes that can be linked to Telegram, says Woo.
Last week alone, South Korean police received 88 notifications about deepfake porn, in which 24 suspects have been identified.
French investigation
South Korea’s Telegram scrutiny comes after Pavel Durov, founder and head of the messaging service, was arrested in France at the end of August.
French authorities believe that Telegram’s lack of moderation and cooperation with the authorities makes the company complicit in drug trafficking, abuse and fraud.
South Korean police have said they want to cooperate with French authorities in the investigation of Telegram. Telegram has not yet commented on the matter.
Epidemic of sex crimes
Activists say South Korea is suffering from an epidemic of digital sex crimes, including incidents of hidden cameras and revenge porn, and that the law is not strict enough.
Deepfake porn perpetrators have reportedly used social media platforms such as Instagram to steal images of victims, which are then digitally edited to create fake pornographic material.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol is among those who have called for a proper investigation into the increase in digital sex crimes.
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2024-09-03 11:04:12
