On Wednesday, September 4, the South Korean government began an investigation into Telegram for its failure to act over deepfake pornography, which then made the messaging application apologize in public.
The application termed the situation as "unfortunate" and blamed "miscommunication". The Korea's Communications Standards Commission (KCSC) claimed that Telegram has taken action and removed 25 videos that were related to the deepfake porn scandal.
AI- Generate Deepfake Porn Images of Korean Students
This probe by the South Korean government comes a month after it was exposed that a group of university students used AI technology to create pornographic images with the faces of their female classmates without their permission. In all, 88 complaints were filed, and 24 suspects were named as the government under President Yoon Suk Yeol toughened efforts to combat online sex crimes, including 'revenge porn' and hidden recordings.
Telegram founder Pavel Durov had come under scrutiny for facing similar legal problems in the past. He recently faced arrest in France over charges he allowed criminal activities on the platform.
More Cooperation with South Korean Authorities
In response to the crisis, KCSC called on Telegram to establish a hotline that would deal more effectively with illegal content. This initiative includes setting up an exclusive email address that will help increase the level of cooperation between Telegram and South Korean authorities in efforts to combat and eradicate digital sex crimes.
Debate on AI Ethics
This has further raised concerns and debate on the misuse of AI-generated content and data privacy laws around the world.
Especially since more of these incidents are coming to light, like a recent post by Elon Musk on X (formerly named Twitter) where he shared an AI-generated image of Kamala Harris as a communist dictator. The post, titled "Kamala vows to be a communist dictator on day one. Can you believe she wears that outfit!?" stirred much furor online. Read More
Public as well as governments around the world are becoming more aware of such problems and there can be seen a need for better data privacy and cybersecurity rules and regulations worldwide.