Because of deepfake porn

Telegram now also under fire in South Korea

Just over a week after the arrest of company boss Pawel Durow in France, Telegram is facing new trouble according to a media report. The South Korean authorities have launched an investigation into the short messaging service's possible complicity in sexual offenses on the internet.

This was reported by the South Korean news agency Yonhap on Monday. It referred to the head of the National Bureau of Investigation.

Its internet department would not comment on the issue, and Telegram was also initially unavailable for comment. The investigations concern the dissemination of so-called deepfakes. This involves the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to create pornographic images of prominent women and distribute them via the internet. This topic has been the subject of discussion for some time. According to cybersecurity firm Security Hero, more than half of the victims of sexual deepfakes worldwide in 2023 were South Korean singers and actresses.

Almost 300 cases this year
According to the South Korean police, 297 cases of such sexual crimes have been recorded so far in 2024. This is twice as many as in 2021, when such data was collected for the first time. The authorities have also received more than 6,300 requests for the deletion of deepfakes. The majority of both victims and perpetrators are teenagers. The government in Seoul wants to tighten the laws and make the purchase and viewing of sexual deepfakes a punishable offense in future.

The authorities have called on online networks to block the distribution of such content and delete these images. To this end, a new body is to be set up to facilitate communication with social media operators. The media regulator also asked its French colleagues for regular cooperation in the Telegram case.

The WhatsApp rival is considered to be the main disseminator of such content and uncooperative in the prosecution of criminal offenses. France has launched formal investigations against founder Durov because Telegram refuses to pass on data from suspected users to law enforcement officers. Russian-born Durov had to post bail worth millions and is not allowed to leave France.