KCSC Requests Correction of 42,407 Sexual Crime Contents from January to July This Year
Illegal Filming Materials Still Widely Distributed... "Fundamental Measures Needed"
Most videos related to digital sex crimes have been found to spread more on overseas illegal sites where illegal gambling takes place than on Telegram, where deepfake sexual exploitation materials are distributed. This is why there are calls for imposing sanctions on overseas illegal sites comparable to those on Telegram to establish fundamental measures against digital sex crimes.
According to data received by Rep. Lee Hun-ki's office of the Democratic Party of Korea from the Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCSC) on the 4th, the KCSC requested corrections for a total of 42,407 digital sex crime materials from January to July this year. If this trend continues, the number of correction requests for digital sex crime information this year is estimated to reach about 73,000, an increase of approximately 6,000 compared to the previous year.
Digital sex crime materials were mainly distributed on overseas illegal sites or peer-to-peer (P2P) sites intended for illegal gambling and viewing obscene materials. Of the 42,407 correction requests from January to July this year, 42,138 access blocks occurred on overseas illegal sites or P2P sites, accounting for about 99% of the total. In contrast, Twitter and Telegram accounted for only 188 and 78 cases, respectively. In South Korea, only three deletion actions for digital sex crime information were taken on Naver this year. This suggests that digital sex crime-related videos are distributed on overseas illegal sites to evade domestic investigative agencies.
On overseas illegal sites or P2P sites, illegal filming materials?sexual videos filmed against the subject's will?are predominantly circulated. Among the 42,407 correction requests, 35,865 were related to illegal filming materials. Correction requests related to sexual fake videos, including deepfake sexual exploitation materials, numbered 6,542. In 2022 and 2023, correction requests related to illegal videos reached 51,202 and 59,217, respectively. Even after the Nth Room case, where a large number of illegal filming materials were produced and distributed in 2020, the environment still allows for the open viewing of illegal filming materials.
The KCSC's measures remain limited to regulating Telegram. At a press conference held on the 30th of last month at the Broadcasting Hall in Yangcheon-gu, Seoul, KCSC Chairman Ryu Hee-rim stated, "We have held two face-to-face meetings to establish a practical cooperation system with Telegram," adding, "Telegram promised to cooperate in various ways not only on digital sex crime materials such as deepfake sexual crime videos but also on illegal information such as prostitution, drugs, and gambling, and to proactively consult with the National Police Agency and the Korea Communications Commission for practical cooperation."
There are calls that actively responding to overseas illegal sites and illegal filming materials is essential to fundamentally solve the problem of digital sex crimes. Rep. Lee said, "The distribution of deepfake sexual exploitation materials on Telegram is just the tip of the iceberg," and added, "We need to establish fundamental measures on how to protect the public from digital sex crimes."
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