Authorities in South Korea have begun an investigation into the embattled instant messaging app Telegram, focusing on the platform’s relationship with deepfake sex crimes that have caused a stir in the country.
The probe comes after Telegram’s founder and chief executive, Pavel Durov, was arrested in France in late August for a slew of charges including harm against children, money laundering and abetting terrorism. A hero to some and a criminal to others, Durov provides about 900 million global users with an encrypted service where messages are seemingly safe from the prying eyes of the government.
Woo Jong-soo, head of South Korea’s National Office of Investigation, has said he will collaborate with French investigators and other international institutions. This follows the arrest of seven male suspects alleged to be the creators of deepfake pornographic content.
The young men allegedly stole social media images from their female classmates, teachers and neighbors. Using the latest artificial intelligence, they turned them into deepfake porn. The men then distributed the content through Telegram and chatrooms. It’s being reported that girls and women from 500 schools and universities became victims, causing enough panic to compel girls throughout the country to take down their social media photos.
South Korea’s Advocacy Centre for Online Sexual Abuse victims, ACOSAV, has said it has counseled 238 victims so far in 2024, compared with 86 victims throughout all of 2023. Just in the past week, 86 victims came forward.
“Many of the victims are minors and most of the perpetrators are teenagers,” South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol said at a cabinet meeting. “They may say that they created this as a ‘mere prank,’ but this is a clear criminal act that exploited technology behind the wall of anonymity.”
The attention on Telegram will no doubt lead to more calls to punish Durov. He has previously stated he was once approached by the FBI whose agents were seeking to get a backdoor into his platform — something he said he refused. He claims it’s impossible to have full encryption in a country such as the U.S., where backdoors are left open.
Telegram is not providing French investigators with account data and it seems that’s the case in South Korea and the U.S. Though the focus right now is on harm, one might ask if the real story is about Durov’s refusal to allow governments to snoop.