Stigma and criticism follow victims of deepfake content in South Korea

SEOUL – As hundreds of reports have recently been made to police in South Korea regarding the

distribution and creation of sexually explicit deepfake images and videos

, calls for increased protection and stronger punishment of perpetrators are being raised.

According to the Korean National Police Agency, the authorities have seen a giant surge in the number of reports filed by victims of deepfake pornography since it declared a seven-month crackdown on digital sex crimes from Aug 27 to March 31, 2025.

From Aug 26 to Sept 3, a total of 118 reports have been made, marking a tenfold increase compared with the up to 297 cases made over seven months from January to July.

Deepfakes – digitally manipulated or generated photos that are impossible to distinguish from real images – have recently come under fire as local media have reported numerous Telegram chatrooms where sexually explicit deepfake content generated and manipulated via artificial intelligence was distributed.

Those

responsible for the creation of deepfake content

were groups connected to specific regions, university campuses, middle and high schools, and military units.

Following a recent surge of media reports as well as police reports filed by victims of the crime, some netizens claim the public and the government are “overreacting” to deepfake pornography.

On Sept 4, news channel YTN reported that such comments were written under its news report. One comment read: “Honestly, I don’t even understand why deepfake pornography is such a big deal.” Another comment said: “They’re just graphics and not actual people. Can we really say that there are victims involved here?”

On online forum websites such as DC Inside, multiple posts claimed that the controversy over deepfake pornography in South Korea has been “blown out of proportion”. One post even read: “It’s more of a bummer that technology hasn’t advanced enough to make (deepfake pornography) better.” Several other posts made derogatory comments about the victims and female activists who took part in recent protests against deepfake pornography.

“As such comments belittle the amount of shame and embarrassment victims of deepfake pornography often feel, they can also constitute a form of secondary victimisation,” human rights lawyer Min Go-eun told The Korea Herald.

Secondary victimisation refers to additional trauma or harm a victim experiences after the initial crime, usually due to negative responses from others, including insensitiveness, blaming or dismissive attitudes.

Off the internet, Gwangju Nambu Police Station was criticised for its deepfake sex crime prevention campaign that used an image of a group pointing their fingers at a victim. The Ministry of Justice advises against using such images, as they imply that the victims are responsible for the sex crimes committed against them.

Local media also reported on a middle school in Gwangju where six students who were victims of deepfake pornography said they were suffering from secondary victimisation as they were not separated from the perpetrating student.

Some students were forced to interact with the perpetrator when going to and from different classes. A father of one victim told Yonhap News Agency that his daughter is “going through a great deal of emotional distress”.

“My daughter is having a hard time psychologically, knowing that the perpetrating student used to see her as a sexual object, even saying that she wants to transfer to a different school,” he said.

Regarding the recent rise in the number of secondary victimisation cases for deepfake sexual crime victims, lawyer Min told The Korea Herald that it could be due to the rampant “perception that takes deepfake sexual crimes lightly”.

“To punish an individual for secondary victimisation, it must be proven that such actions were made to defame and insult the victim. However, it can be difficult to prove that in this case, as both the victims and perpetrators can be difficult to identify,” said Ms Min.

While stronger regulations against secondary victimisation for criminal cases such as sexually explicit deepfakes are important to have, Ms Min added that it is also important to “educate the general public as to why deepfake sexual crimes are as serious as other forms of sexual crimes” in order to prevent further secondary victimisation.

“Besides the prevention of secondary victimisation, it is also important to provide any mental health support necessary for the victims of deepfake pornography,” said Ms Min. THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK