South Korea is facing a surge in digital sex crimes, prompting the country’s National Police Agency to launch a thorough investigation into the encrypted messaging platform Telegram. This probe was announced on September 2, 2024, an effort to combat the AI-generated pornography commonly known as deepfake porn.
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Last Saturday, a university student referred to as Heejin (not her real name) received a message on Telegram from an anonymous sender. The message contained personal photos of her from her school days, which had been altered into explicit, sexually graphic images using deepfake technology.
Heejin, like many victims was terrified and felt isolated. The deepfake images left her feeling vulnerable and violated.
South Korean journalist Ko Narin exposed the existence of deepfake pornography rings at two major universities, a discovery that would soon unravel into a much larger and more disturbing network.
Ms. Ko’s investigation revealed that these deepfake rings were not limited to universities but extended to high schools and even middle schools.
Specific chatrooms on Telegram were dedicated to targeting students often with strict entry requirements leading to the creation of humiliation rooms or friend of friend rooms.
Telegram has become the platform of choice for these deepfake operations due to its anonymity and the ability to set chatrooms to secret mode.
In response to the crisis South Korea’s National Police Agency announced it would investigate Telegram’s role in facilitating these crimes, following the example of French authorities who charged Telegram’s founder, Pavel Durov for crimes related to the platform.
The deepfake operations are disturbingly systematic. Chatrooms demand users to upload multiple photos of their targets along with personal details like name, age and location, enabling the creation of fake pornographic images.
The most shocking revelation was a chatroom dedicated to underage pupils at one school, which had over 2,000 members.
Women’s rights activists have been instrumental in uncovering and responding to this crisis. They have scoured Telegram for chatrooms helping to identify over 500 schools and universities as targets within just a week.
The Advocacy Centre for Online Sexual Abuse Victims (ACOSAV) has reported a huge increase in underage victims seeking help.
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Deepfake pornography involves the superimposition of real people’s faces onto AI-generated bodies, often in explicit or pornographic contexts. This invasive technology has been used to create explicit content that targets young women and teenage girls.
The rise of deepfake porn has sparked a public backlash in South Korea especially following several incidents where such content was shared in online communities.
The KNPA suspects Telegram of facilitating the distribution of deepfake pornography by providing a platform where such content can be easily shared. The platform’s encryption features was designed to protect user privacy, are believed to have made it an attractive tool for perpetrators of these crimes.
Telegram has reportedly been uncooperative in previous investigations related to similar crimes. The platform’s refusal to share account information with authorities has impeded law enforcement efforts.
Telegram’s founder and CEO, Pavel Durov was arrested in France in August 2024. This arrest is linked to various allegations including enabling the spread of criminal activities on the platform.
South Korean police see this as an opportunity to hold the platform accountable for its role in the digital sex crime epidemic.
South Korean police have received 88 complaints about deepfake pornography within a single week. This high number of reports highlights the growing scale of the problem.
The authorities have identified 24 suspects involved in these activities. The investigation into Telegram is part of an effort to address an epidemic of digital sex crimes in South Korea, which also includes the use of spycams, revenge porn and other forms of non-consensual intimate imagery.
South Korean police plan to collaborate with their French counterparts in the investigation, given that Durov’s arrest occurred in France.
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