South Korea is deploying heavy weapons to fight porn deepfakea phenomenon that has led to a complex social crisis. Given the increasing number of complaints regarding the use of artificial intelligence to create fake sexual images and videos, Seoul has decided to initiate the administrative mechanism to tighten its legislation on the issue. And powerfully.

He will no longer punish only believers deepfakes sexual to spread them. The bill, which South Korean politicians are working on, calls for heavy fines and even several years in prison for those who knowingly purchase, record or simply view such content.

What happened? South Korea wants to strengthen anti-porn law deepfake. While those who create similar content to spread it today already face five years in prison and fines of up to 50 million won (almost $38,000), South Korean authorities want to go further. Like? We also punish those who keep or consume it.

For this purpose, a bill has been prepared that includes fines and prison sentences for those who knowingly commit pornography with fake images created by artificial intelligence. A parliamentary committee on Wednesday approved a review of the rule, and lawmakers approved the project yesterday, Reuters reported.

Three years behind bars. Penalties for those who knowingly and intentionally store or display content deepfake The obscenity will not be small. Korea Times It states that the revised law provides for a prison sentence of up to three years or a fine of 30 million won (equivalent to about $22,600). The aim is to deter anyone considering purchasing, storing or viewing material. deepfake. Or the same, stop it from multiplying.

On the political agenda. Evidence of the interest the issue has aroused in the country is that another regulatory project has also been given the green light. deepfake engages in illegal acts and ensures support is provided to victims. On Wednesday, a parliamentary committee also agreed to review the law to further punish those who use sexual material to blackmail children or teenagers.

What do the numbers say. The quote is emphatic but not surprising. At the end of August, South Korean President Yook Suk Yeol ordered measures to combat the effects of pornography. deepfakeFake sexual material created with the help of artificial intelligence. “This is an abuse of technology based on the protection of anonymity. And it is a clear crime,” Yook warned.

South Korea’s National Police Agency has released a few figures that help understand the extent to which this type of content has become a big problem in the country. So far in 2024, 812 police complaints have been filed regarding sexual crimes. deepfakes It led to the arrest of 387 suspects. If these data are not alarming enough on their own, there are two keys that will help us understand the seriousness of the situation.

Almost half of these complaints (367) were lodged last month after authorities launched a special campaign to prosecute such crimes. It was also stated that 83.7 percent of those arrested were adolescents. Moreover, since 66 of them are under the age of 14, they are legally exempt from punishment. 13 percent were in their twenties.

“An epidemic”. South Korea is not the only country grappling with enormous challenges. deepfakes. Cases have also been recorded in the United States and even in Spain, where a particularly serious case involving minors was reported in Extremadura a year ago. But in South Korea, the situation has reached such depth that Human Rights Watch has openly acknowledged this concern.

“South Korea is facing an epidemic of digital sex crimes where hundreds of women and girls are victims of fake sexual images shared online,” warns Heather Barr, deputy director of the Division of Women’s Rights. He also mentioned the “crisis” recently Speech Sungshin Bae is an investigator and official with the South Korean Prosecutor’s Office.

“I was horrified”. “AI is fueling the country’s deepfake porn crisis,” Bae lamented, before providing a clarifying tip: Security Heroes recently analyzed almost 96,000 AI-made sex videos from different sources and found that just over half of the material, about 53%, was South Korean It featured singers and actresses.

The problem also affects women who work out of the spotlight, like Heejin, the pseudonym of a university student who recently told the BBC how she felt when she discovered a pornographic photo of herself, a fake AI-generated image, was being circulated in a chat. from an overtly sexual reality. “I couldn’t stop thinking: Did this happen because I uploaded my photos to the networks? Should I be more careful? I was petrified, I felt so alone.”

Guard Note that Telegram has a chat room that attracts approximately 220,000 members dedicated to creating and sharing manipulated images of women, including young women, college students, teachers, and soldiers. To prepare them, they were consulting photos taken from networks such as Instagram.

Pictures | Carles Rabada (Unsplash) and 卡晨 (Unsplash)

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