South Korea intends to penalize the act of viewing or holding onto sexually explicit deepfake materials.
There's been a stir in South Korea over Telegram chat groups where explicit and unlawful deepfakes are produced and shared extensively, leading to demands for harsher penalties.
Individuals involved in buying, saving, or viewing such content could potentially spend up to three years in prison or pay a fine up to 30 million won ($22,600), as per the proposed bill.
Presently, producing sexually explicit deepfakes with the intention of dissemination is punishable by five years in prison or a fine of 50 million won ($37,900) under the Sexual Violence Prevention and Victims Protection Act.
Once the new law is implemented, the maximum sentence for such offenses will also rise to seven years, irrespective of the intent.
The bill needs President Yoon Suk Yeol's approval to become law.
So far this year, South Korean police have handled over 800 deepfake sex crime cases, as reported by Yonhap news agency on Thursday. This is a significant increase from the 156 cases reported for all of 2021.
Most of the victims and offenders are teenagers, according to police.
This month, police initiated an investigation into Telegram to examine if the encrypted messaging app has played a role in the dissemination of explicit deepfake content.
Nations globally are trying to figure out the best way to deal with the spread of deepfake material.
The US Congress is considering various bills, including one that would enable victims of nonconsensual sexual deepfakes to sue, and another that would criminalize the publication of such content and require tech companies to remove it.
Earlier this year, social media platform X banned users from searching for Taylor Swift after fake sexually explicit images of the pop star spread on social media.
The deepfake issue is not limited to South Korea, as nations around the world, including the United States, are actively seeking solutions to combat the spread of such material.In Asia, a significant increase in deepfake sex crime cases has been reported in South Korea, with over 800 cases handled this year alone.
