World South Korea faces deepfake porn 'emergency' (+updates)

The Helper · Sep 4, 2024

South Korea’s president has urged authorities to do more to “eradicate” the country’s digital sex crime epidemic, amid a flood of deepfake pornography targeting young women.

Authorities, journalists and social media users recently identified a large number of chat groups where members were creating and sharing sexually explicit "deepfake" images – including some of underage girls.

Deepfakes are generated using artificial intelligence, and often combine the face of a real person with a fake body.

South Korea’s media regulator is holding an emergency meeting in the wake of the discoveries.

South Korea faces deepfake porn 'emergency'

The president has addressed the growing epidemic after Telegram users were found exchanging doctored photos of underage girls.

www.bbc.com

tom_mai78101 · Sep 6, 2024

Korean women take their fight against deepfake exploitation to the streets

An emergency rally is being held in Seoul on Friday to call for proactive government measures on sex crimes that employ deepfake technology, which employs images and audio to produce fake replications of people. Women have resorted to searching for deepfake chat rooms on their own and then forming online communities with other women to share self-protection protocols. Now they are gathering in the real world to call on the government to take action.

On Thursday, a coalition of 144 women’s rights and civil rights groups formed a coalition and announced that they were gathering in Bosingak Bell Pavilion on Friday at 7 pm. The rally will be titled, “Let’s reclaim our daily lives so they’re free from fear and anxiety!”

“We keep seeing digital sex crimes, like those on Soranet, the Webhard cartel, and Telegram, yet the government response has always been inadequate. Additionally, they’ve even claimed that there is no such thing as ‘structural sexism,’” they said, referring to remarks by the president.

“Under the current administration’s anti-women agenda, policies for women have regressed. Moreover, male online culture has exploited digital platforms’ profit structures and technology to create the current situation of deepfake sexual violence,” they added.

Korean women take their fight against deepfake exploitation to the streets

Women are rallying across Seoul to condemn the proliferation of online sex crimes and demand action be taken

english.hani.co.kr

tom_mai78101 · Sep 14, 2024

From spy cams to deepfake porn: fury in South Korea as women targeted again

The anger was palpable. For the second time in just a few years, South Korean women took to the streets of Seoul to demand an end to sexual abuse. When the country spearheaded Asia’s #MeToo movement, the culprit was molka – spy cams used to record women without their knowledge. Now their fury was directed at an epidemic of deepfake pornography.

For Juhee Jin, 26, a Seoul resident who advocates for women’s rights, the emergence of this new menace, in which women and girls are again the targets, was depressingly predictable. “This should have been addressed a long time ago,” says Jin, a translator. “I hope that authorities take precautions and provide proper education so that people can prevent these crimes from happening.”

The National police agency said this week that it was investigating 513 cases of deepfake pornography – in which the faces of real women and girls are digitally superimposed on to a body without their knowledge or consent. That represents a 70% jump in cases in just 40 days, the Yonhap news agency said, underlining the country’s struggle to rein in the use of digital technology to sexually abuse women and girls.

Recent reports about the rapid rise in deepfake porn have prompted a new round of soul-searching in a country whose positive contribution to global pop culture is being sullied by its status as the world’s digital sex crime capital.

The exact number of victims is difficult to verify, but if the current trend continues South Korea is expected to reach a record high by the end of the year. The number of reported cases of deepfake porn has risen steadily in recent years, from 156 in 2021 to 180 in 2023.