In the midst of a national epidemic of modern sex crime, Telegram has offered an apology to South Korean authorities for handling the deep-fake pornographic content shared through its messaging app.
It comes weeks after South Korean authorities announced they were looking into Telegram and had accused it of “abetting” the submission of such photos.
A large number of Telegram chatrooms, many of which are run by youth, were recently discovered to be making sexually explicit “deepfakes” using fabricated images of young people.
Officials claim Telegram has since removed these videos from its system.
In a speech to South Korea’s Communications Standards Commission (KCSC), Telegram said the position was “unfortunate”, adding that it “apologised if there had been an ingredient of misunderstanding”.
Additionally, it confirmed that, in response to KCSC’s request, it had taken down 25 of these films.
Telegram even suggested a contact email address for KCSC to use in the future.
KCSC described the agency’s approach as “very forward-looking” and said Telegram has “acknowledged the severity” of the condition.
Deepfakes are usually combined with false body parts and the faces of real people to create artificial intelligence.
After reporters discovered police were looking into algorithmic porn at two of South Korea’s top universities, the new deepfake crisis sparked outrage in South Korea.
In the following five weeks, authorities later learned that there had been 118 reviews of these videos. Seven offenders, six of whom are teens, have been questioned by the police in the past year.
The talk parties were connected to distinct schools and universities throughout the nation. Some of their patients were well-known to the culprits, including teachers and students.
In South Korea, those found guilty of producing sexually explicit deepfakes may spend up to five years in prison and be fined up to 50 million won ($ 37,500, £28,300 ).
These revelations in South Korea follow the imprisonment of the Russian-born chairman of Telegram, Pavel Durov, in France, on allegations that child pornography, drug trafficking and forgery were taking place on the communications app.
Mr Durov has since been charged.
Yoon Suk Yeol, the president of South Korea, instructed the government to” carefully investigate and address these online sex crimes to eradicate them,” according to a statement released last Tuesday.
Women’s rights activists claim that South Korean government permit the transmission of sexual abuse on Telegram.
In 2019, it was discovered that a sexual circle had allegedly fabricated information using the software to extort thousands of women and children from sexual content. The band chief Cho Ju-bin, who was then 20, was sentenced to 42 years in jail.