South Korea Investigates Telegram — RT World News

The platform is accused of supporting the spread of deepfake pornography, a week after its CEO was arrested in France

South Korean police are investigating the messaging platform Telegram in connection with online sex crimes as the country seeks to crack down on deepfake pornography targeting young women, a senior police official said, according to Yonhap News Agency.

Last week, local police received 88 reports of deepfake porn, National Bureau of Investigation chief Woo Jong-soo told media, adding that 24 suspects had been identified in connection with the complaints.

The investigation comes a week after the arrest of CEO and founder Pavel Durov in France.

“Like France, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency launched an internal investigation into the legal entity Telegram before officially arresting it,” Woo said the investigation would scrutinize whether the organization facilitated the distribution of sexually explicit deepfake content.

He said that the management of the messaging platform “does not simply provide research data, such as account information” to the state authorities, “including those in the US.”

South Korean police plan to cooperate with French investigative authorities and international institutions as part of the investigation into Telegram.

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The investigation examines eight automated programs that create and distribute deepfake pornography via Telegram. The same applies to group chat rooms that distribute such content.

Durov was arrested last Saturday, shortly after arriving at Paris-Le Bourget airport, and has since been charged with multiple crimes, including complicity in “managing an online platform” are used by criminal gangs to carry out illegal activities and refuse to cooperate with investigators.

The tech entrepreneur, who holds citizenship in Russia, France, the United Arab Emirates and Saint Kitts and Nevis, was released on €5 million ($5.55 million) bail on Wednesday and must remain in France until the case against him is resolved.

Telegram has insisted that the company complies with EU law and that its content moderation policies “within industry standards,” adding that accusing a platform or its owner of abusing that platform “absurd.”

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