South Korea to Strengthen Measures Against Telegram Due to Deepfake Scandal - Media.

South Korea to Step Up Fight Against Telegram Over Deepfake Scandal

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol announced the strengthening of measures against the messaging app Telegram due to a scandal involving sexual deepfakes featuring South Korean women, reports Reuters.

According to the agency, the South Korean president has called for a thorough investigation of digital sex crimes after media reported the circulation of explicit images and videos of South Korean women in Telegram chats.

Police reported that during the first seven months of 2024, 297 cases of online sex crimes were registered. This number exceeds last year's figure (180 cases) and is nearly twice as high as in 2021 when statistics were first collected. Most of the suspects are teenagers and young people around 20 years old.

Local media paid special attention to an analysis conducted by the Hankyoreh newspaper. It examined Telegram channels that distributed deepfakes of university students, as well as high school and middle school girls.

This week, the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union reported several incidents where schoolchildren became victims of sexual deepfakes. They are calling on the Ministry of Education to conduct an investigation.

According to the Center for Victims of Sexual Assault in the Military, explicit deepfakes targeting female service members were also found in Telegram chats.

Telegram's reputation in South Korea suffered a blow several years ago after it became known about a network engaged in sexual blackmail in the app's chats.

Reuters points out that the recent publications coincided with the arrest of Telegram founder Pavel Durov in France on August 24. French law enforcement is investigating cases of child pornography, drug trafficking, and fraud allegedly carried out through the encrypted messaging app.

Source: RBC-Ukraine