No more torture by hope, please

CHUN IN-SUNG
The author is the international news editor of the JoongAng Ilbo.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was another victim. She introduced the Defiance Act, which passed the U.S. Senate about a month ago. Known as AOC, she is a star politician who, at age 28, became the youngest woman elected to Congress in 2018. She spoke on the first day of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, and “the mood in the audience was remarkably more energized for the charismatic Ocasio-Cortez than for any speaker who came before her — except Harris herself,” according to The Hill.

In an interview with Rolling Stone in April, AOC opened up about how she felt when she accidentally found images of herself depicted in sexual terms on social media. She discussed the shock, fear and trauma of feeling like others would think the images were real. She called deepfake victims “survivors of sexual violence” and warned that deepfake “simulates the exact intent of physical rape and assault” and pushes victims to extreme choices.

The bipartisan bill introduced by AOC and 10 other members of the House and Senate passed the Senate unanimously. While it still needs to be passed by the House and signed by the president, the bill is moving along smoothly, unlike similar bills that have been frustrated or delayed by platform industry lobbying or “free speech” controversy.

The bill is distinctive in that it focuses on reparations and the rights of victims, whom AOC calls “survivors of sexual violence,” by increasing the legal accountability of perpetrators. The bill guarantees the right of deepfake victims to seek reparations not only from those who created and distributed the content, but also from those who own the content. Existing law, which was limited to regulating platforms and criminalizing the perpetrator, was expanded to include reparations for victims. Communication and collaboration with over 30 organizations that support online and offline survivors of sexual violence across America played a key role.

In Korea, the government and politicians are paying belated attention to the fact that deepfake sexual exploitation cases have surfaced since mid-August. The president’s “anger” has led government agencies to increase the penalty and present measures for reporting and investigation, video removal, and prevention education. The ruling and opposition parties have agreed to strengthen regulations and increase the legal penalty. But most of the measures discussed so far are just rehashing old responses to pornographic material or “wishful thinking,” such as setting up a hotline with Telegram. Can such bureaucratic solutions solve the unprecedented crisis of sexual exploitation with the help of AI? If there is no clear plan, what about communicating and empathizing with victims and seeking new solutions as AOC and lawmakers did in the United States?