[Unofficial translation provided by the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre]

“Seoul National University deepfake perpetrator sentenced to 10 years… 'Hatred for successful women'”, 3 October 2024

Seoul Central District court sentenced a 40-year-old man, identified as Mr. Park, to ten years in prison for the illegal production and distribution of deepfake videos that combined victims' faces with graduation photos of female alumni from Seoul National University.

…The court did not reduce the sentence proposed by the prosecution, which sought a significant punishment. ...

… Mr. Park was prosecuted for creating sexual exploitative content using graduation photos and images from social media of female alumni, which he then distributed through Telegram channels and chat rooms. ...

…The court highlighted the growing issue of crimes facilitated by the security of platforms like Telegram, stating, “While such crimes are proliferating, it is increasingly difficult to hold offenders accountable, leaving innocent members of society defenseless except for refraining from posting photos on social media. The defendants were only apprehended through the efforts of well-meaning informants, which has incurred significant social costs,” thereby justifying the heavy sentence…