South Korea: Telegram apologizes for deepfake porn

South Korean media reported on Wednesday that Telegram had apologized, one day after authorities in Seoul ordered an investigation into the messaging app over deepfake pornography.

Telegram called the scandal "unfortunate" and said it was sorry about "miscommunication" regarding the issue, according to Korea's Communications Standards Commission (KCSC).

KCSC said that the platform had removed 25 videos at its request.

Why is Telegram being investigated?

The probe announced on Tuesday comes a month after it came to light that a group of university students had created AI-generated pornography with the real faces of female classmates.

Police said they have received 88 complaints about deepfake pornography and have identified 24 suspects.

President Yoon Suk Yeol has vowed to address a rising tide of online sex crimes, including revenge porn and surreptitious recordings.

This is not the first time Telegram has founded itself in legal hot water. Founder and chief Pavel Durov was arrested in France in August. The Russian-born Dubai-based entrepreneur is being held over allegations of allowing criminality to spread on the platform.

In 2019, 20-year-old Korean Cho Ju-bin was sentenced to 42 years in prison after being named the leader of a sex ring that used the app to blackmail women and children into filming themselves.

New hotline for online sex crimes

Yonhap news agency reported that the KCSC asked Telegram to create a hotline together with South Korean authorities to better respond to illegal material on the platform.

"We wish to strengthen cooperation with (Telegram) by securing a hotline, starting with the exclusive email address, to resolve the circulation of deepfake sexual exploitation materials and ultimately eradicate digital sex crime content," a KCSC official said.

es/nm (Yonhap, KBS)