Outrage in S. Korea over deepfake porn crisis

Preliminary data suggests that most of the suspected perpetrators from the recent wave of cases are in their teens.

- Catherine Thorbecke

South Korea has been rocked by a wave of sexually explicit deepfake images being created and shared online, indiscriminately targeting women and girls using their school photos, social media selfies and even military headshots.

A Telegram channel with more than 220,000 participants was reportedly being used to create and share these pornographic images generated by artificial intelligence (AI), serving as a global reminder of the darker consequences from the widespread rush for this technology.

Users could upload photos and in a matter of seconds create explicit content with the faces of their friends, classmates or romantic partners. The initial reporting from local news outlets prompted more women to come forward as victims and more Telegram channels being exposed, revealing the true scale of the issue. Many of the victims involved are minors. Protesters wearing white masks over their eyes gathered in Seoul calling for justice late last month.

As outrage mounted, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol called on his government to crack down on the digital abuse, and the authorities said they would form a task force to tackle the issue.

While police investigated, another disturbing trend emerged. Preliminary data indicates that a vast majority of the suspected perpetrators from the recent wave of cases were in their teens.

"Some may dismiss it as a mere prank, but it is clearly a criminal act that exploits technology under the shield of anonymity," Mr Yoon said during a Cabinet meeting in late August, acknowledging that many of the victims and perpetrators were minors.