Deepfake sex crimes surge, teen girls and women hit hardest

A Korean human rights institute said in a new report Thursday that it has provided support to 1,807 victims of online sexual crimes since August of last year, as part of a broader effort to combat the distribution of deepfake and doctored images. The Women’s Human Rights Institute of Korea (WHRIK) set up a dedicated team within the National Center for Digital Sexual Crime Response a year ago in reaction to a surge in sex crimes using deepfake technology. Since then, the center has handled about 18,500 cases, with actions ranging from counseling to the removal of doctored images, a threefold increase compared to the same period in 2024. The sharp increase in reported cases underscores how rapidly deepfake technology has accelerated the spread of digital sexual crimes, presenting a major social and legal challenge for Korea. The findings paint a picture of a nation where authorities and advocacy groups are scrambling to keep pace with the swift and anonymous proliferation of manipulated images online. Just over 97 percent of victims were women. By age group, those under 20 accounted forWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times