Deepfake perpetrators ignore police action

Experts call for tougher penalties for offenders and platform operators

By Lee Hae-rin

Despite warnings from law enforcement to crack down on sexually explicit deepfakes, perpetrators have taken to social media and online communities to brag about their crimes, confident that they “can’t get caught.”

Through an online community called “Deepfake Countermeasures Headquarters,” users share deepfake experiences and information on how to deal with police investigations and potential punishments.

Among the messages is content that acknowledges the criminal nature of the activity.

“I made a deepfake with my ex-girlfriend’s photo, but I never told her and she wouldn’t know. I became quite famous (among deepfake users),” wrote one online user.

Another said: “I ran a chat room where users shared photos of their acquaintances. Is that a problem if you’re a high school student?”

At the same time, users expressed confidence that it would not lead to punishments, mocking the government and the media for “making a fuss” about deepfake crimes.

“It’s not easy to identify the people who entered the room, but we can’t investigate them by organizing what they did in the room,” wrote one online user, encouraging and comforting other perpetrators. “(Deepfake) production has no basis for punishment. What we did is not illegal because it was never written into law in the first place. Don’t let yourself be intimidated.”

Many agreed that “those who stay in the room should feel safe,” citing the case of Cho Ju-bin, the mastermind behind Nth Room, a notorious online sexual exploitation and blackmail ring. Cho alone was sentenced to 42 years in prison in October 2020, while none of the Nth Room users who produced, shared and viewed sexual abuse material via Telegram were punished.

According to a report from Security Hero, a cybersecurity firm, the number of deepfake videos online has increased by 550 percent year-over-year to 95,820.

Additionally, 98 percent of all deepfake videos were sexually explicit and 99 percent of victims were women. Koreans in particular are the main targets of deepfake pornography. The nationality of deepfake victims was overwhelmingly Korean at 53 percent.

It is striking that more than 500 schools across the country have been affected by deepfake sex crimes. A chat room has also been created where users share and mock profiles of reporters who cover and report deepfake sex crimes.

Criminology experts highlight the low level of punishment for digital sex crimes.

“The related laws have been revised since the Nth Room and ‘Doctor’ incidents, but there is still no punishment for possessing or watching (fake videos) that are not proven to be the purpose of distribution. Many cases of punishment are released on probation, and the perpetrators think that probation is not even a punishment,” said Lee Soo-jung, a professor of criminal psychology at Kyonggi University.

In addition to toughening penalties for those who produce or distribute sexually exploitative content, she proposed regulating platforms used as criminal conduits, a more fundamental solution.

“Since 2022, laws have been passed that impose accountability on platforms (where sexually exploitative content is distributed), especially in Europe. However, in Korea, there are still no punitive measures, only supervision,” the spokesperson said.

French authorities last week arrested Telegram boss and founder Pavel Durov for allegedly ignoring a request from the French judiciary to help prevent illegal activities by platform users.

In response, the Korea Communications Standards Commission recently sent a letter to French investigative authorities requesting urgent cooperation in tackling deepfake sex crimes on Telegram.

Telegram has never responded to requests from the Korean government to cooperate in the investigation of sex crimes.