‘Surprised’ by Deep Fake Crimes… National Assembly proposes 33 bills in 7 days

Recently, the National Assembly has been slow to take action as the number of “deepfake” (fake video, photo and voice) sex crimes using artificial intelligence (AI) technology has increased rapidly. Critics say the government has been slow to address the situation while neglecting policy discussions due to political bias.

According to the National Assembly’s agenda information system on August 5, 33 deepfake-related bills were proposed from August 27 to September 4. In particular, 29 lawmakers from the Democratic Party participated in the bill to punish the purchase, possession, viewing, storage and sale of deepfake videos, proposed by Rep. Hwang Myung-sun of the Democratic Party of Korea. Seventeen lawmakers from the People’s Power participated in the bill to support the removal of videos of deepfake victims, proposed by Rep. Lee In-sun of the People’s Power.

The National Assembly’s Committee on Science, Technology, Information, Broadcasting and Communication, a standing committee on deepfake sex crimes, held a policy debate on Saturday on “how to eradicate deepfake sex crime videos” and the ruling and opposition parties joined hands to find a solution together. As deepfake crime is developing into a social problem, the government plans to come up with an alternative plan through legislation soon.

Up until now, the ruling and opposition parties have been fiercely opposing the Broadcasting Act at the general meeting of the overdefense. When the policy discussions disappeared, a theory of futility of overdefense also emerged. This policy debate is a movement that is aware of such criticism.

“For the first time in the 22nd National Assembly, a joint policy debate was held by the ruling and opposition parties within the National Assembly,” a ruling party official said. “Some pointed out that few questions were asked about deepfake crimes. Shouldn’t this be a place to say that ‘overdefense is policy-related work?’”

The reason why the National Assembly is constantly pushing for legislation against deepfakes is that there has been an increase in similar crimes recently.

According to the National Police Agency, 118 cases of deepfake sex crimes were reported in the five days from August 26 to 30. Police identified 33 suspects and arrested seven. Of the suspects, 31 (six of the arrested individuals) turned out to be teenagers. Police caught three teenagers selling illegal connections of deepfake and sexual exploitation of children and adolescents on foreign social networking sites. Police arrested 63 people who bought illegal sexual exploitation of children from them and are investigating further.

Telegram, which has been labeled a hotbed for deepfake crimes, removed all 25 digital sex crime videos after receiving an urgent request from the Korea Communications Standards Commission to remove them. He also bowed his head and said, “I feel sorry for the development of the current situation.”

Some have pointed out that the current legislation of the National Assembly is bad and is causing deepfake crimes. In fact, under the current Sexual Violence Punishment Act, deepfake sex crimes cannot be punished even if produced, unless the purpose of distribution is proven. Furthermore, downloading and possessing, buying and watching videos cannot be punished. Therefore, there have been constant calls for the National Assembly to come up with additional measures through legislation.

An opposition official said: “We are watching the deepfake crime with interest, not only because of over-defence, but also because of issues involving the Public Administration and Security Commission and the Women’s Family Commission. We plan to investigate whether the Board of Audit and Inspection’s management and oversight of deepfake crimes has been sloppy in the future.”

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