“This is a blatant violation of the law” — JYP Entertainment announces legal action against the distribution of explicit deepfakes of their artists.

JYP Entertainment, home of Stray Kids and TWICE, issued a notice announcing to take legal action against violators who engaged in the distribution of deepfake content of its artists. For the unversed, an artificial intelligence (AI)-generated deepfake is a synthetic picture, video, or audio file that mimics the appearance of an actual person.

On August 30, 2024, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol called for a comprehensive investigation into digital s*x crimes (deepfake). Reports claimed to have found that many Telegram chat groups are engaged in the production and dissemination of deepfake p*rno*raphy of women and allegedly of K-pop idols.

The same day, JYP Entertainment posted a notice on the FANS app threatening to take legal actions against perpetrators with no line.

"Hello, this is JYP Entertainment. We are gravely concerned about the recent spread of deepfake (AI-generated) videos involving our artists. This is a blatant violation of the law, and we are in the process of collecting all relevant evidence to pursue the strongest legal action with a leading law firm, without leniency."

The corporation went on to say that it will not remain silent in the face of the nation's continuous epidemic of digital s*x crimes against its artists.

"We want to make it clear that we will not stand by while our artists’ rights are violated and will take decisive action to address this matter to the fullest extent possible."

The company issued its statement after K-pop fandoms united online and trended several hashtags like "PROTECT YOUR ARTIST" and tagged all Korean entertainment companies. This stemmed after reports surfaced that the digital s*x crimes allegedly targeted idols like BLACKPINK's Jennie, ITZY, IU, and K-pop idol groups containing members who are minors like ILLIT, among others.

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South Korea fighting against an increase in deepfake p*rno*raphy targeting women and K-pop idols

On August 28, The Guardian reported that Telegram chatrooms (an app) frequently contain s*xually explicit deepfake photos and videos of South Korean women. South Korean police agency reported that in the first seven months of 2024, there were 297 complaints of digital s*x crimes offenses.

UPI reported that 315 of 527 or 60% of the victims of digital s*x crimes were minors. A Telegram conversation with around 220,000 male users digitally altered photos of women and girls (minors) to produce and distribute explicit pictures and videos.

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol declared at a cabinet meeting and ordered an immediate investigation into the matter.

"Recently, deepfake videos targeting an unspecified number of people have been circulating rapidly on social media. The victims are often minors and the perpetrators are mostly teenagers." (as reported by BBC)

BBC reported that on Saturday, August 24, 2024, Telegram's founder, Pavel Durov, was arrested over allegations of child p*rno*raphy, drug trafficking, and fraud on the encrypted messaging service.

Women's rights advocate, Park Ji-hyun, who also served as the main opposition Democratic Party's interim leader earlier, mentioned the gravity of the situation and said,

"Se*ual abuse materials can be created in just one minute, and anyone can enter the chatroom without any verification process. Such incidents are occurring in middle schools, high schools, and universities across the country."

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A similar Telegram app-based s*x racket known as "nth-room" surfaced in 2019. Male users reportedly used the Telegram chatroom to coerce and blackmail young women into performing for explicit videos. Cho Ju-bin, the ringleader of the group, was arrested upon investigation and received a 42-year prison term.

Notably, developing and producing s*xually explicit deepfakes of women and young girls to distribute them is illegal in South Korea and carries a five-year jail sentence or a fine of 50 million won ($37,500).