South Korea urges Telegram to crack down on deepfake sex crimes

The skyline of Seoul, South Korea. (Bloomberg Photo)

The South Korean government has asked messaging app Telegram and other social media companies to remove sexually explicit deepfake sex photos from their platforms after a rise in such content.

The Korea Communications Standards Commission will set up a 24-hour hotline with Telegram for direct and constant consultations to tackle the spread of deepfakes, the regulator said in a statement on Wednesday. The regulator cited Telegram as the main distribution channel for deepfake content and did not mention other social media companies in its statement.

Despite police vowing to aggressively crack down on the spread of deepfakes, the number of cases of online sexual exploitation in South Korea rose to 297 between January and July this year, compared with 180 cases in 2023, police data showed.

South Korea’s decision comes after Telegram founder Pavel Durov was arrested in France over the weekend on allegations that the messaging app failed to adequately combat crime on the app, including the distribution of child abuse material.

Most deepfakes are explicit videos and images created by projecting a celebrity’s face onto someone else’s body. Some are used to scam consumers or to damage the reputations of politicians and other people in the public eye.

On February 8, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission made it illegal for companies to use AI-generated voices in robocalls. The ban came two days after the Federal Communications Commission issued a cease-and-desist order against the company responsible for an audio deepfake of President Joe Biden.

Lawmakers in South Korea have introduced a bill to change laws regarding the possession or viewing of deepfake videos. Currently, a person who produces deepfakes with the intent to distribute them can be sentenced to up to five years in prison or a fine of 50 million won ($37,448). –FLOWER MOUNTAIN