Illustrative photo from open sources
South Korean police have announced the launch of an investigation into the Telegram messenger for allegedly "aiding" the spread of so-called “deepfake porn,” including explicit images of teenagers created by artificial intelligence, Agence France-Presse reports.
“Deepfake porn” refers to explicit content in which people's faces are superimposed onto other pornographic images or videos using artificial intelligence technology.
In August, a South Korean broadcaster reported on an illegal chat room run by university students sharing deepfake pornographic images of their classmates, the latest high-profile case to spark public outrage.
“In light of these deepfake crimes, the Seoul branch of the National Police Agency launched an investigation last week into aiding and abetting crimes,” – said Woo Jong-soo, head of the police agency's investigation bureau.
“Telegram has not responded to our previous requests for information during investigations into Telegram-related crimes,” he said.
Last week alone, police received 88 reports of deepfake pornography, Woo Jong-soo said, adding that they had identified 24 suspects.
The investigation follows the arrest of Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov in France in August.
He has been charged with multiple counts of failing to curb extremist and illegal content on the popular messaging app.
By Sergey Daga