Telegram apologizes for handling deepfake porn footage – FBC News

Telegram has apologized to South Korean authorities for its handling of pornographic deepfake material shared on its messaging app amid an epidemic of digital sex crimes in the country.

A few days earlier, South Korean police had launched an investigation into Telegram, accusing the company of “facilitating” the spread of such images.

In recent weeks, numerous Telegram chatrooms – many of them run by teenagers – have been found to be creating sexually explicit “deepfakes” using manipulated photos of young women.

According to the authorities, Telegram has now removed such videos from its platform.

It was also confirmed that 25 such videos had been removed as requested by KCSC.

In its recent statement to KCSC, Telegram also proposed an email address for future communication with the regulator.

KCSC called the company's approach “very forward-looking” and said Telegram “recognized the seriousness of the situation.”

Deepfakes are generated using artificial intelligence and often combine the face of a real person with an artificial body.

The recent deepfake crisis has sparked outrage in South Korea after journalists discovered that police at two of the country's largest universities were investigating deepfake porn rings.

It later emerged that police had received 118 reports of such videos in the past five days. Seven suspects, including six teenagers, were questioned by police last week.

The chat groups were linked to individual schools and universities across the country. Many of their victims were students and teachers known to the perpetrators.

In South Korea, people found guilty of creating sexually explicit deepfakes can be sentenced to up to five years in prison and fined up to 50 million won ($37,500; £28,300).

These discoveries in South Korea follow the arrest of Russian-born Telegram founder Pavel Durov in France on allegations that the messaging app was used to conduct child pornography, drug trafficking and fraud.

Charges have now been brought against Mr Durov.

Last Tuesday, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol ordered authorities to “thoroughly investigate and combat these digital sex crimes in order to eradicate them.”

Women's rights activists accuse South Korean authorities of allowing sexual abuse on Telegram.

In 2019, it was revealed that a sex ring had used the app to blackmail dozens of women and children into filming pornographic content. The ring's leader, Cho Ju-bin, then 20 years old, was sentenced to 42 years in prison.