Published At 2025.02.28
Feature
My Face on the Body of Someone Else
2024 South Korea Telegram Deepfake Pornography Circulation Problems
AI technology has been advancing rapidly since the beginning of the 21st century. Among the various AI technologies that exist today, one that has caused great controversy is the Deepfake technology. Deepfake is a technology that uses a form of machine learning called 'Deep learning' to compose human images. By using Deepfake, people can combine a person’s face or body image into another piece of a picture or a video. Given its potential to impersonate individuals. Deepfake has raised concerns about its misuse, such as creating fake news, defamation, and sexual crimes. A recent example of such problems is the 2024 Telegram Deepfake Pornography Circulation in South Korea, which has shocked the public. The Telegram Deepfake Circulation came to public attention on August 20, 2024. The perpetrators collected numerous photos of the victims from social media like Instagram. They used Deepfake to compose the victims' faces onto existing pornographic content and distributed it on Telegram. Additionally, some wrongdoers did not pick random people as victims but instead used images of people they know personally to create pornographic content. In some cases, the assailants secretly took photos of their mothers or female siblings to produce pornography. It has been estimated that there are 220,000 perpetrators, and the number of victims is so large that it is difficult to calculate accurately. One of the most worrying aspects of this issue is that pornographic contents are primarily spread among middle school, high school, and university students. Students have collected photos of their peers to create pornography and used them to blackmail the victims. Inside Telegram, there are over 70 chat rooms with around 1,300 involved people that produce pornography of university students, and there are 2,300 members in chat rooms that produce pornography of middle and high school students. As the years go by, the age of individuals exposed to explicit content and those engaged in related crimes is decreasing as well as the age of the victims targeted by these sexual offenses. This case emphasizes the urgent need for crime prevention and support for victims among students. Another major issue with the current Telegram Deepfake case is the difficulty of prosecuting the offenders. First, it is challenging to identify the perpetrators because Telegram considers security and anonymity important. When users delete their accounts, most of their data is erased, and Telegram strictly protects user privacy, refusing to cooperate with government investigations. Additionally, since Telegram does not have a corporate body within South Korea, there are no legal means to take action against it. Secondly, there is a lack of appropriate laws to supervise the circulation of Deepfake pornography. Like other AI technologies, Deepfake has existed for less than a decade, meaning there are few relevant regulatory laws or legal precedents. Although the "Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Sexual Crimes," amended in June 2023, has strengthened the regulation and punishment of cyber sexual crimes, the law has not been applied suitably. Meanwhile, the rate of crimes related to Deepfake continues to rise rapidly. Every year, new AI technologies like Deepfakes are developed and commercialized. However, the enactment and enforcement of laws have not kept pace with this fast technological progress. This confusing situation related to these technologies threatens people’s safety. As AI technology remains in a regulatory gray area, people must stay aware of the dangers of illegal Deepfake content and work to prevent its circulation.