This Nation Is 'Most Targeted' Over Deepfake Porn

In South Korea, women's lives have been ruined by footage; gender divide there may deepen
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Oct 5, 2024 10:30 AM CDT
This Nation Is 'Most Targeted' Over Deepfake Porn
Citizens stage a rally against deepfake sex crime in Seoul, South Korea, on Sept. 27.   (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Three years after a 30-year-old South Korean woman received a barrage of online fake images that depicted her nude, she's still being treated for trauma. She struggles to talk with men, and using a mobile phone brings back the nightmare. "It completely trampled me, even though it wasn't a direct physical attack on my body," the woman, who didn't want her name revealed due to privacy concerns, said in a phone interview with the AP. Many other South Korean women have recently come forward to share similar stories as South Korea grapples with a deluge of nonconsensual, explicit deepfake videos and images that have become much more accessible and easier to create. It wasn't until last week that the nation's parliament revised a law to make watching or possessing deepfake porn content illegal.

Most suspected perpetrators in South Korea are teenage boys. Observers say the boys target female friends, relatives, and acquaintances—also mostly minors—as a prank, or out of curiosity or misogyny. The attacks raise serious questions about school programs but also threaten to worsen an already troubled divide between men and women. Deepfake porn in South Korea gained attention after unconfirmed lists of schools that had victims spread online in August. Many girls and women have hastily removed photos and videos from their Instagram, Facebook, and other social media accounts. Thousands of young women have staged protests demanding stronger steps against deepfake porn, while politicians, academics, and activists have held forums.

Police say they've detained 387 people over alleged deepfake crimes this year, more than 80% of them teenagers. Separately, the Education Ministry says about 800 students have informed authorities about intimate deepfake content involving them this year. Experts say the true scale of deepfake porn in the country is far bigger. The US cybersecurity firm Security Hero called South Korea "the country most targeted by deepfake pornography" last year. The prevalence of deepfake porn in South Korea reflects various factors, including heavy use of smartphones; an absence of comprehensive sex and human rights education in schools; and inadequate social media regulations for minors, as well as a "misogynic culture" and social norms that "sexually objectify women," per University of Seoul research professor Hong Nam-hee. More here from some of the victims.

(More deepfakes stories.)

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