South Korea is Fully Obsessed with “Deep Fake Porn,” Turning Teenage Boys Having Fun Into National Outrage:

[Artaxerxes II]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/ ... eted-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.

The victims are predominantly young women and girls, including students, teachers, and soldiers. Last year almost two-thirds were in their teens. Local media reports say the perpetrators are also often minors. Teenagers accounted for 79% of those detained in the first nine months of this year, according to Yonhap.

The scale of the problem has stunned many South Koreans. One Telegram chatroom known for creating and distributing deepfake pornography reportedly had 220,000 members, another more than 400,000 users. Some rooms encouraged members to humiliate or degrade women through deepfakes.

Several years after South Korea made international headlines with its molka problem, the government is again under pressure to stamp out this wave of online sex crimes. A large protest is scheduled to be held in Seoul on 21 September.

South Korea holds the unenviable title of the country most targeted by deepfake pornography. Its female singers and actors constitute 53% of the individuals featured in deepfakes worldwide, according to a 2023 report by Security Hero, a US startup focused on identity theft protection.

Police have launched an investigation into Telegram, and the country’s media regulator plans to hold talks with the messaging app’s representatives to discuss a joint response to the problem. The education ministry has launched a taskforce to investigate incidents at schools, teach children how to protect their images and support victims.

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If this kind of stuff turns into bullying then I oppose it, but think it should be dealt with at the level of schools and parents. Hysteria. Aren't birth rates low enough, SK?