Numerous chat rooms suspected of creating and distributing deepfake pornographic content using altered photos of Korean women have recently been discovered on Telegram. (Image courtesy of Pixabay/CCL)
SEOUL, Nov. 6 (Korea Bizwire) – The government said Wednesday it will push for upping regulations on domestic and foreign platform operators such as Telegram as part of its comprehensive plan aimed at eradicating deepfake-related sexual crimes.
Under the plan, online messaging app Telegram will be required to have an agent representing the company in South Korea and take measures to protect children from sexually exploitative and other harmful materials on its platform.
Other platform operators, including internet portal operator Naver and Meta, which operates Instagram and Facebook, will also be obliged to devise measures to respond to the distribution of such materials on their platforms.
The Korea Communications Commission will be allowed to impose a fine on the companies in case of violation of the requirements, the government said.
The move came after a series of pornography targeting young women on Telegram sparked public outrage earlier this year.
The number of deepfake sex crime cases reported to the police increased over fourfold to 964 cases so far this year, compared with 180 cases in the whole of 2023.
The government said it also plans to strengthen cooperation with global platform companies to remove illegal content from the platforms and help with the investigation of such cases.
In September, South Korea’s media regulator and the police set up a hotline with Telegram.
The package also includes plans to allow platforms carrying deepfake materials to block the images and videos first before requesting a review by the state media regulator.
(Yonhap)
