13 middle school students arrested for creating and distributing deepfake sexual exploitation content of female classmates

Thirteen boys have been arrested by police on charges of creating and sharing sexually exploitative content by compositing photos of female students at a middle school in Gyeonggi Province. So-called 'deepfake' refers to technology that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to swap a face or body into another person's photos, and producing fake sexual videos with this technology constitutes a violation of the Special Act on the Punishment of Sexual Crimes.

The Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency arrested the students on charges of capturing photos of female students between May and August last year and compositing them into sexually exploitative videos (production and distribution of fake sexual footage), as well as illegal filming. The investigation found that the videos and photos they created were shared among themselves via social media (SNS). However, there were no indications that the content had spread outside the school.

Between March and June, police classified the students into those aged 14 or older subject to criminal punishment and juvenile offenders. Students subject to criminal punishment were referred to the prosecution, while juvenile offenders were referred to the juvenile division of the family court. The trial involving the 13 perpetrators was recently concluded, according to reports.