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High reported severity Criminal Charges

Taiwan: YouTuber and assistant who sold AI face-swap sexual videos of 119 people, including politicians and influencers, convicted and ordered to pay damages

From July 2020 sexual videos showing the faces of Taiwanese politicians and influencers circulated online. Taiwan's Criminal Investigation Bureau said in October 2021 that the videos had been made by superimposing people's faces onto existing pornographic videos using deep learning technology; PTS describes the makers as a YouTuber with about a million subscribers and his assistant, who sold the videos. Prosecutors counted 119 victims, and the indictment, as reported by Taiwan's public broadcaster PTS, describes the misuse of AI synthesis technology (Deepfake). The New Taipei District Court convicted the pair in July 2022 under the Personal Data Protection Act on 119 counts; on the prosecutors' appeal the High Court increased the YouTuber's sentence, and the Supreme Court upheld it in May 2024, ruling that such videos harm the depicted people's reputation and mental health. In December 2025 the Supreme Court rejected his challenge to an aggregate term of six years and four months, as reported by the Liberty Times. Civil courts ordered the pair to pay NT$1 million each to two women in December 2022 and a total of NT$1.85 million to six women in December 2024.

AI system
Unidentified video tool
Occurred
Jul 2020
Reported
20 October 2021
Event location
Taiwan
What the AI did
Depicted or impersonated the person
Reported harm
Exploitation or AbuseReputational HarmPsychological Distress
Whose AI use
Someone else’s AI use
Setting
Privacy · Justice
Evidence
AI involvement supported · Causal attribution established · 6 sources
7 claims: 7 reported. 4 open questions
People reported harmed
At least 119 people

AI system as recorded: Face-swap software that, according to the Criminal Investigation Bureau and the indictment as reported, used deep learning (Deepfake) to superimpose real people's faces onto existing pornographic videos; the software is not named in the inspected sources

What Happened

The videos. The Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) told a briefing in October 2021 that pornographic videos featuring well-known Taiwanese politicians and influencers had begun circulating online in July 2020. It said the videos were made by superimposing people's faces onto existing pornographic videos using deep learning technology, and that the suspects had made more than NT$11 million over the past year by creating and distributing them. PTS, Taiwan's public broadcaster, reports that the indictment describes the YouTuber and his assistant as misusing AI synthesis technology (Deepfake), and that according to the investigators the assistant downloaded victims' photos and videos to extract their faces, and the YouTuber merged the facial features of 119 people into videos downloaded from adult websites. Buyers registered as members through social-media groups and paid hundreds to thousands of Taiwan dollars per video; PTS reports illegal profits of more than NT$13.38 million.

Criminal proceedings. The YouTuber and two others were arrested on 17 October 2021 and released the next day, two of them on bail. On 21 July 2022 the New Taipei District Court convicted the YouTuber and his assistant under the Personal Data Protection Act on 119 counts. One victim, a city councillor, had told the court that the videos circulating online inflicted further harm on the victims. Prosecutors appealed against sentences they considered too lenient. The Liberty Times reports that the High Court increased the YouTuber's sentence and confiscated the proceeds, and the Supreme Court upheld the sentences in May 2024. According to the Taipei Times, the Supreme Court ruled that using people's likenesses to create deepfake pornographic videos for public viewing tarnishes their reputation and harms their mental health. The High Court later set an aggregate term of six years and four months, describing forged intimate images of the victims as an irreplaceable and nearly irreversible violation, and the Supreme Court rejected his challenge on 17 December 2025.

Civil claims. In December 2022 the New Taipei District Court ordered the pair to pay NT$1 million to each of two women and said that content shared online is nearly impossible to remove, so the victims would be haunted by the misuse of their likenesses for decades. In December 2024 the High Court ordered them to pay a total of NT$1.85 million to six women, assessing each award by the number of videos uploaded of her.

What is not known. The inspected sources do not name the face-swap software. The full judgments were not read; the court findings are taken from news reports of them. The outcome of other civil claims is not established here.

Reported harm

According to the CIB and the courts as reported, 119 people's faces were put into pornographic videos with deep learning face-swap software and sold online; the Supreme Court found such videos harm the depicted people's reputation and mental health, and civil courts awarded damages to two women in 2022 and six women in 2024.

How Harm Occurred

According to the investigators and the courts as reported, face-swap software using deep learning put the faces of 119 real people into existing pornographic videos, which were sold to paying members online, damaging the depicted people's reputation and mental health.

Outcome

Resolved

Arrested with two others on 17 October 2021 and released the next day, two of them on bail. The New Taipei District Court convicted the YouTuber and his assistant on 21 July 2022 under the Personal Data Protection Act on 119 counts (five years and six months for the YouTuber, commutable to a fine, as reported). On the prosecutors' appeal the High Court in 2023 imposed five years that cannot be commuted plus one year and eight months that can, and confiscated the proceeds; the Supreme Court upheld the sentences in May 2024. The High Court later set an aggregate term of six years and four months, and the Supreme Court rejected his challenge on 17 December 2025, as reported by the Liberty Times. In civil suits the New Taipei District Court ordered NT$1 million each to two women (December 2022), and the High Court ordered a total of NT$1.85 million to six women (December 2024).

What remains unknown

  • Which face-swap software was used.
  • The full criminal and civil judgments, which were not read; findings are taken from news reports.
  • Whether people beyond the 119 counted by prosecutors were depicted, and the outcome of the other civil claims.
  • Whether the December 2024 civil judgment, which CTWANT reported could be appealed, became final.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: supported. Taiwan's Criminal Investigation Bureau said the videos were made by superimposing people's faces onto existing pornographic videos using deep learning technology, and the indictment, as reported by PTS, describes the misuse of AI synthesis technology (Deepfake) to merge 119 people's facial features into downloaded adult videos. These generated videos depicting real people are the material that was sold online and for which the courts convicted the pair and awarded damages; the Supreme Court found that such videos harm the depicted people's reputation and mental health. The inspected sources do not name the software or describe a technical examination beyond the investigators' account.

7 claims: 7 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported The Criminal Investigation Bureau said that pornographic videos featuring well-known Taiwanese politicians and influencers began circulating online in July 2020 and that they were made by superimposing people's faces onto existing pornographic videos using deep learning technology.

Causal attribution. Investigating police account at a briefing; the technical basis is not described beyond deep learning.

  • taipeitimes.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'began circulating online in July last year.' 'using deep learning technology, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said.'
Reported According to the indictment as reported by PTS, the YouTuber and his assistant misused AI synthesis technology (Deepfake) to merge the facial features of 119 people into videos downloaded from adult websites and sold them for illegal profits of more than NT$13.38 million.

Causal attribution. Prosecutors' account relayed by two outlets; the courts later convicted on 119 counts.

  • news.pts.org.tw(opens in new tab) supports · Chinese
    '濫用人工智慧合成技術Deepfake' '將119名被害人臉部特徵，合成至成人色情網站下載的影片中。' '購得合成不雅影片，不法獲利高達1338萬餘元。'
  • ctwant.com(opens in new tab) supports · Chinese
    '用AI深偽技術「DeepFake」軟體' '檢方認定共119人受害'
Reported The New Taipei District Court convicted the pair under the Personal Data Protection Act on 119 counts in July 2022; on the prosecutors' appeal the High Court increased the YouTuber's sentence and confiscated the proceeds, and the Supreme Court upheld the sentences in May 2024.

Causal attribution. Court rulings as reported by two outlets; the judgments themselves were not read.

  • news.ltn.com.tw(opens in new tab) supports · Chinese
    '一審新北地院依違反個人資料保護法將119罪各處刑5月，合併應執行5年6月，但得易科罰金198萬元' '高等法院二審加重改判6年8月，其中5年不得易科罰金、沒收犯罪所得；最高法院2024月5月駁回上訴定讞。'
  • taipeitimes.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'rejected an appeal by a Taiwanese YouTuber and upheld his five-year prison sentence by a lower court'
Reported The Supreme Court ruled that using people's likenesses to create deepfake pornographic videos for public viewing tarnishes their reputation and harms their mental health.

Causal attribution. Supreme Court finding as reported by the Taipei Times.

Reported The High Court set an aggregate term of six years and four months, describing the forged intimate images of the victims as an irreplaceable and nearly irreversible violation, and the Supreme Court rejected the YouTuber's challenge on 17 December 2025.

Causal attribution. Court rulings as reported by the Liberty Times.

  • news.ltn.com.tw(opens in new tab) supports · Chinese
    '涉及偽造被害人等之私密影像，屬侵害不可替代性且幾近不可回復之法益侵害' '定應執行有期徒刑6年4月' '但最高法院2025年12月17日駁回抗告'
Reported In civil suits the New Taipei District Court ordered the pair to pay NT$1 million to each of two women, saying content shared online is nearly impossible to remove, and the High Court later ordered a total of NT$1.85 million to six women.

Causal attribution. Civil rulings as reported by two outlets, one for each ruling.

  • taipeitimes.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'have been ordered to pay NT$1 million (US$32,548) to each of two women whose likenesses they used in deepfake pornography videos' 'it is nearly impossible to expunge content that has been shared online.' 'would continue to be haunted by the misuse of their likenesses for decades, along with harm to their reputations, it said.'
  • ctwant.com(opens in new tab) supports · Chinese
    '分別批准賠償20萬、20萬、20萬、25萬、50萬、50萬，總計判賠185萬元。'
Reported One victim, a city councillor, told the criminal court that the videos circulating online inflicted further harm on the victims.

Causal attribution. A victim's statement in court as reported by PTS.

Sources

6 sources inspected. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

Read in English by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-26; no translation. Applies to s1, s3, s4.

Read in Chinese (traditional script) by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-26 and translated by the research agent (an AI) into English; no human translator or reviewer was involved. PTS report of the first-instance sentencing and the indictment. Applies to s2.

Read in Chinese (traditional script) by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-26 and translated by the research agent (an AI) into English; no human translator or reviewer was involved. Applies to s5.

Read in Chinese (traditional script) by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-26 and translated by the research agent (an AI) into English; no human translator or reviewer was involved. Liberty Times report summarising the criminal proceedings and the December 2025 ruling. Applies to s6.

Event countries: Taiwan. Affected-person countries: Unknown. Court countries: Taiwan.

The Criminal Investigation Bureau investigated the case, the suspects were arrested in New Taipei City and the New Taipei District Court, High Court and Supreme Court of Taiwan decided it; the reports describe the videos as made and sold by the pair in Taiwan, so the event country is Taiwan. The victims are described as Taiwanese politicians and influencers in the Taipei Times report, but individual countries are not stated, so affected-person countries are left empty.

Reviewed for publication 2026-10-26: Published as a core case (depicted_or_impersonated): Taiwan's Criminal Investigation Bureau said the videos were made by superimposing 119 real people's faces onto pornographic videos with deep learning technology, the indictment as reported describes AI synthesis (Deepfake), and the courts convicted the YouTuber and his assistant, upheld the sentences, and civil courts awarded damages to women depicted in the videos. No victim or accused person is named.

People described

119 people whose faces were put into the videos, according to prosecutors and the courts, including a legislator, a city councillor, entertainers, live-streamers and YouTubers. None is named here

People reported harmed in this case

At least 119 people

0 AI participants · 119 other people harmed

Prosecutors counted 119 victims and the courts convicted on 119 counts, one for each person whose face was used (PTS, Liberty Times, Taipei Times). The convictions establish 119 as a lower bound; whether other people were depicted is not stated.

Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.

Tags

#deepfake#sexual_images#face_swap#court_conviction#civil_damages#taiwan

Cite this case

Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.

APA

NOPE. (2026). Taiwan: YouTuber and assistant who sold AI face-swap sexual videos of 119 people, including politicians and influencers, convicted and ordered to pay damages. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2020-taiwan-youtuber-and-assistant-who-sold-ai-face-swap-sexual-videos-of-119-people-convicted-and-ordered-to-pay-damages

BibTeX

@misc{2020_taiwan_youtuber_and_assistant_who_sold_ai_face_swap_sexual_videos_of_119_people_convicted_and_ordered_to_pay_damages,
  title = {Taiwan: YouTuber and assistant who sold AI face-swap sexual videos of 119 people, including politicians and influencers, convicted and ordered to pay damages},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2020-taiwan-youtuber-and-assistant-who-sold-ai-face-swap-sexual-videos-of-119-people-convicted-and-ordered-to-pay-damages}
}

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