In South Korea, a troubling new trend in digital abuse has emerged as authorities uncovered a vast network of AI-generated deepfake pornographic chatrooms on Telegram, targeting students and educators alike. This discovery has prompted teenage activist Bang Seo-yoon to take action, collecting testimony from victims who have been subjected to this digital violation. Many of these cases reveal a disturbing pattern: schoolboys pilfer innocuous selfies from private Instagram accounts, manipulate these images into explicit content, and distribute them within chatrooms to humiliate their female classmates and teachers.
The Impact of Advanced Technology and Lax Regulations
South Korea, renowned for having the world’s fastest average internet speeds, has long faced challenges related to sexual cyber violence. However, experts believe that the combination of Telegram’s anonymity, advanced AI technology, and insufficient legal protections has exacerbated the problem. “It’s not just the harm caused by the deepfake itself, but the spread of those videos among acquaintances that is even more humiliating and painful,” Bang Seo-yoon told AFP. This growing crisis is ravaging the country’s educational institutions, with the perpetrators predominantly being teenagers.
Rising Deepfake Porn Statistics
Globally, the prevalence of deepfake pornography has surged dramatically, increasing by 500 percent in 2023 alone, according to cybersecurity firm Security Hero. The vast majority of victims are women, including many celebrities who have the resources to combat these violations. While the K-pop agency behind the girl band NewJeans has taken legal action against such content, ordinary individuals often struggle to find justice, highlighting a significant disparity in victim protection.
Legal and social Challenges
Despite the alarming rise in reported deepfake crimes, the prosecution rates remain dismally low. Between 2021 and July of this year, 793 deepfake-related offenses were reported, yet only 16 arrests were made. Following the exposure of the Telegram chatrooms, reports surged, leading to 118 complaints in just five days in late August. However, most of the alleged perpetrators are teenagers, complicating legal actions since South Korean courts rarely issue arrest warrants for minors.
The Nature of the Chatrooms
The Telegram chatrooms involved in these scandals often bear explicit names such as “the lonely masturbator” and contain rules requiring members to post photos of women they wish to see “punished.” Victims of these chatrooms experience severe emotional distress, as described by Kang Myeong-suk, head of victim support at the Women’s Human Rights Institute of Korea. Kang noted thatwhile the perpetrators often evade consequences, the victims are left to “live in fear of where their manipulated images might be distributed by those around them. “Some online comments say the victims should ‘get over it’ as these deepfake images are not even real,” Kang said. “But just because manipulated images aren’t real doesn’t mean the pain the victims endure is any less genuine.”
The chatrooms often feature crude names and rules that encourage members to post images of women they wish to “punish.” Victims are left feeling “sexually insulted and mocked by their classmates in online spaces,” according to Kang. She emphasizes that while the perpetrators often evade consequences, the victims are left to “live in fear of where their manipulated images might be distributed by those around them.”
Cultural and Legal Discrepancies
Victim blaming remains a significant issue within this crisis. Some online commentators suggest that victims should simply “get over it,” arguing that the altered images are not real. However, Kang counters this perspective, stating, “Just because manipulated images aren’t real doesn’t mean the pain the victims endure is any less genuine.”
Despite South Korea’s overall low crime rates, the country has been grappling with a long-standing epidemic of spy-cam crimes. This issue gained national attention during the 2018 protests inspired by the global #MeToo movement, which ultimately led to legislative changes. Yet, the penalties for offenders often remain trivial, such as fines or probation, which do not align with the severity of the crimes.
President Yoon Suk Yeol’s Controversial Stance
President Yoon Suk Yeol’s views on feminism and gender issues have also contributed to the problem. His dismissive attitude towards feminist concerns has been interpreted as a signal that hostility towards women is acceptable, exacerbating the situation. This societal backdrop affects the response to deepfake crimes and the broader issue of gender-based violence.
Victims’ Struggles for Justice
One victim of a 2021 deepfake porn incident shared her harrowing experience with AFP, detailing the trauma of identifying her attacker and navigating the legal system. The victim, a student at Seoul National University, described the profound impact of the attack and the challenges she faced in bringing her assailant to justice. “The world I thought I knew completely collapsed,” she wrote in a letter intended for her court trial. “No one should be treated as an object or used as a means to compensate for the inferiority complexes of individuals like the defendant, simply because they are women.”