The private messaging app Telegram is being looked into by South Korea because it is thought to be involved in the spread of deepfake pornography. This is part of the country’s larger plan to fight a rise in digital sex crimes, especially those that use deepfake technology.
The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency is in charge of the investigation, which began with a look into Telegram’s business. The main focus of this investigation is on claims that Telegram has helped the spread of illegal material, especially deepfake sex crimes, which is similar to what the French government did.
Woo Jong-soo, who is in charge of South Korea’s National Office of Investigation, talked about how hard it is to solve cases like this one because Telegram doesn’t always give police the account information they need, which makes investigations harder. The South Korean government plans to work with French and other foreign agents to get around these problems.
This is the first time that South Korean cops have looked into Telegram’s corporate organization. As a whole, the country is cracking down on internet sex crimes, which are becoming more and more common. In a recent attempt to deal with these problems, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol told local governments to work harder to get rid of digital sex crimes.
Telegram has reacted to South Korea’s concerns by taking down illegal deepfake material as asked. Reports say that Telegram’s East Asia office recently told South Korean officials that it had taken down 25 pieces of content that were illegal. The messaging app has also said it wants to improve its contact with South Korean regulators. One way they might do this is by setting up a specific hotline to deal with illegal content more quickly.
Even with this partnership, Telegram is getting more and more attention around the world. South Korea’s probe comes after Pavel Durov, the founder and CEO of Telegram, was arrested by French police on charges of helping criminals use the platform. This has led to a lot of investigations into Telegram around the world. India and Indonesia are two countries that are thinking about or have already taken steps to block the platform.
South Korea has joined the worldwide movement to hold Telegram responsible, but it’s still not clear what will happen with the chat app in South Korea and maybe other places as well. With only about three million monthly active users, South Korea is not one of Telegram’s biggest markets. However, the result of this study could have huge effects on how the platform works all over the world.
