Fighting Deepfakes

Bini Dahal

For countries like Nepal, the development of information and communication technology (ICT) is a top priority. The application of ICT is said to have the ability to ensure transparency and promote good governance practices in the country. Despite all this, we cannot ignore a variety of security issues, and most importantly, the tendency of misusing it by certain ‘highly knowledgeable people’.  

Now, South Korea, an East Asian country, known for its fast internet and its strong position in ICT, is suffering from incidences of dangerous sex crimes. Hundreds of women and girls are now under the target of ‘deepfake technology’, a kind of artificial intelligence. Using artificial tools, those with a criminal mindset have been found producing convincing fake images, videos and audio recordings. And this problematic practice has spread like anything through a messaging application known as Telegram. 

A telegram group is said to have around 22,000 members. This group mainly works on converting photographs into deepfake ones. And these photos are used to blackmail girls and women and they are made to feel vulnerable and helpless. The photos of girls and women are being used, without their permission to convert them into sexually explicit photos and videos. The authority had also come across a group that was apparently sharing personal information like addresses and student identity cards.  

It is mostly men who are part of such heinous activities. They are mostly found going scot-free. Thus, online gender-based violence has become increasingly rampant in this developed nation. While South Korea is considered a safe country for most people and tourists, over the years, installation of spy cams in changing rooms of hospitals, shopping malls and even washrooms have been a serious problem for the law enforcement. The authorities responsible for dealing with such crimes have found it difficult to bring the criminal groups to justice.

In view of the gravity of the situation, the South Korean government now plans to increase penalties against sexual deepfakes being shared on the application. The guilty will have to face a jail-term of seven years. Earlier, there was a provision of five-year imprisonment. The South Korean government has asked messaging app Telegram and other social media companies to delete sexually explicit deepfake sex images from their platforms after a drastic surge in such contents. Recent media reports show that Telegram has apologised for such a situation. It had removed 25 such videos from its platforms. Telegram has also come up with an email address that will be used for future communication with the regulator. 

This incident highlights the need for concerted efforts of the government authorities and such social media platforms. It is quite important that applications like Telegram must be mindful and should continue monitoring to control these activities from happening. Also with the rampant proliferation of ICT, it is equally important to increase the level of awareness among the people against its misuse. These incidents should also be an eye-opener for countries like Nepal where instances of ICT getting misused in the past have been quite rampant. 

Not just this, deepfake had created much issue in social media platforms like Tiktok as well. Trampling on the dignity of girls and women and spreading hatred is not a matter that can be just turned blind eyes on. It is disappointing to see how an alarming proliferation of such technology is specifically targeting and manipulating young girls and women. This is a form of gender-based violence and its repercussions are far-reaching for the society. Unless and until we do not monitor and regulate them, such complex technologies will continue to cause issues.