This year's deepfake sexual violence incident in a prestigious university group chat room was shocking. Deepfake is a video created by synthesizing faces and body parts using AI technology and producing sexual violence victims. According to a report by the National Police Agency, 474 cases of deepfake sexual exploitation material production and distribution were arrested in 2024, and more than 80% of the perpetrators were teenagers, including elementary school students.
Teenagers are not sexually ignorant, and they are not free from sexual violence. As digital natives, it is not difficult for them to access or produce sexually exploitative material. The perpetrator who produced and sold sexually exploitative material of female celebrities is a teenager, and the group chat room operator is said to have produced sexually exploitative material since high school. He receives an invitation from a friend, shares deepfake sexually exploitative material and produces sexually exploitative material through a production program.
Deepfake sexual violence shows the gendered phenomenon of male perpetrators/female victims. This is why we need to raise awareness of sexuality among children and adolescents and provide online and offline sexual violence prevention education and counseling. However, the backlash against feminism has led to the interpretation that even the issue of deepfake sexual violence is of little interest.
There are also objections that the punishment hinders the development of AI technology or that men cannot give up their sexual pleasure. It is difficult to accept these counterarguments because they are related to the insensitivity to violence and lack of empathy, which prioritizes one’s own desires over others’ pain.
Perpetrators produce and distribute deepfake sexually exploitative material, understanding that they will not be punished. This process dilutes their sense of guilt, builds confidence, and strengthens the bond between perpetrators.
Since digital sexual violence is an exploitation of images, the persons mistakenly believe that they are not a problem because they do not commit physical sexual violence. However, victims have difficulty living their daily lives with their faces exposed and are suffering. Photos on social media are being deleted, and graduation albums are in danger of disappearing.
The 17th Women's Human Rights Film Festival held by the Korea Women's Hotline in September 2024 screened a documentary on deepfake sexual violence. In the film <My Blonde Girlfriend>, the victim posted a photo of herself in a dress from a few years ago on social media. They were victims of deepfake sexual violence because the photo was stolen. Also, in another incident, the main character goes to a restaurant with a friend, and her laptop is stolen. The perpetrators threatened to distribute the photos stored on the laptop as deepfake sexual exploitation material. In both films, the victims say: "That photo is not me," in a situation where the perpetrator has not been arrested, it is a courageous act for a victim to reveal their face. Still, it is heartbreaking because it is an inevitable choice.
Overseas media outlets report that Korea is a country that produces a lot of deepfake sexual exploitation material and that there are many female victims. Despite this stigma, it is not easy to arrest and punish the perpetrator because evidence disappears when the operator discontinues the chat room. Telegram, which had refused to cooperate with the police investigation to protect the privacy of its members, has agreed to delete illegal information using deepfake.
In October of this year, the government passed a bill that punishes the possession and viewing of deepfake sexual exploitation material, strengthened the prison sentence for deepfake sexual violence from 5 years to 7 years, and increased the prison sentence for blackmail using deepfake sexual exploitation material to 1 year or more. The Ministry of Education recognizes the seriousness of deepfake sexual violence and is planning violence prevention education after an on-site investigation.
The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family is interpreted as the main department for sexual violence. Still, the organization is operating at a reduced scale, and there is a lack of manpower and support. A more integrated measure is needed at the institutional level, and a change in awareness of deepfake sexual violence is required throughout society through education and campaigns.
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