South Korea has announced several steps to curb a surge in deepfake porn, saying it will toughen punishment for offenders, expand the use of undercover officers and impose greater regulations on social media platforms.
Concerns about non-consensual explicit videos that were digitally manipulated deepened in South Korea after unconfirmed lists of schools with victims spread online in August.
In response, many girls and women removed photos and videos from their social media accounts, while others held rallies calling for stronger steps against deepfake porn.
South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol confirmed the rapid spread of explicit deepfake content and ordered officials to “root out these digital sexual crimes”.
Police are now on a seven-month special crackdown that is to continue until March next year.
In a statement, the police task force said the government has been working on revising laws to increase punishments for perpetrators involved in deepfake porn-related crimes.
It cited a recently amended law that for the first time makes acts of watching or possessing deepfake porn illegal and punishable with up to three years in prison.
The maximum punishment for those who produce or distribute deepfake porn contents was increased from five to seven years in prison.
Misogyny among boys blamed for rise in deepfake porn
So far this year, police have detained 506 suspects, 411 of whom were aged between 10 and 19.
The task force said it will push for undercover online investigations, even in cases when victims are adults. The law currently authorises such methods only when victims are minors.
The government also plans another revision that would allow authorities to confiscate profits made through deepfake porn businesses.
Additional measures proposed by the task force include imposing fines on social media platforms when they fail to prevent the spread of deepfake porn, expanding mandatory education programs on digital sex crimes at schools, and producing a public awareness campaign about deepfake porn using celebrities who resonate with young people in South Korea.
It also said South Korea will plan to increase monitors on social media platforms to 26, from the current 12.
Offers to make deepfake porn are advertised on the Telegram messaging app. (ABC News: James Oaten)
Most suspected perpetrators in deepfake porn cases in South Korea are teenage boys. Observers say the boys target female friends, relatives and acquaintances — also mostly minors — as a prank, out of curiosity or due to misogyny.
The deepfake porn issue in South Korea has raised serious questions about school programs, but also threatens to worsen an already troubling divide between men and women.
The prevalence of deepfake porn in the country has been attributed to a mix of factors, including heavy use of smartphones, an absence of comprehensive sex and human rights education in schools, inadequate social media regulations for minors, and the prevalence of misogyny and social norms that sexually objectify women.
AP/ABC
