{ "meta": { "exportedAt": "2026-09-22T16:01:59.758Z", "formatVersion": 2, "selection": { "q": "education", "system": "", "harm": "", "context": "", "country": "", "role": "", "relation": "core", "evidence": "", "year": "2024", "response": "", "severity": "", "verification": "", "view": "incidents", "sort": "added" }, "totalIncidents": 1, "coverage": { "cases": 1, "countries": 1, "languages": 1, "unknownLocation": 0, "locationPending": 0, "unknownLanguage": 0, "unknownDate": 0, "lawsuits": 0, "regulatory": 0, "minors": 1, "coreRelations": 1, "contextualRelations": 0, "mixedRelations": 0, "unknownRelations": 0, "relationPending": 0, "relationUnknown": 0 }, "countingNote": "Distinct public cases in this selection. People counts apply within individual cases only; cross-case person overlap has not been resolved. No population incidence estimate.", "affectedCountNote": "Interpret person counts with affectedCountStatus and the reported effects. Unquantified zeros are placeholders, not a measured zero.", "source": "NOPE Incident Tracker", "url": "https://nope.net/incidents", "license": "CC BY 4.0" }, "incidents": [ { "id": "2024-south-korea-telegram-deepfake-crisis", "caseFacts": { "claims": [ { "id": "c1a", "status": "corroborated", "evidence": [ { "locator": "BBC 3 Sep 2024 confirms Ko Narin's Hankyoreh scoop and describes the school- and university-specific rooms.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" }, { "locator": "Hankyoreh English's own exposure of the military Telegram room (27 Aug 2024).", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s3" } ], "assertion": "Around 26 August 2024 The Hankyoreh (Ko Narin) exposed Telegram rooms creating and sharing AI-generated sexual deepfakes of Korean women and girls, with rooms organized by school and university.", "causal_attribution": "The scoop's existence and the rooms' school/university organization are confirmed by the BBC's original reporting and Hankyoreh English's companion investigation; the original Korean article is dead-linked and retained uninspected." }, { "id": "c1b", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "Room-structure passages: 'humiliation rooms'/'friend of friend rooms', entry terms, the 2,000-member school group.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" } ], "assertion": "The rooms ran as 'humiliation rooms' and 'friend of friend rooms' with entry terms demanding at least four photos plus name, age and area, and one group for underage pupils at a single school had more than 2,000 members.", "causal_attribution": "Single-chain detail from the BBC's 3 Sep 2024 account; no second inspected chain describes the entry terms or the 2,000-member group." }, { "id": "c2", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "Police-figure passages: 297 vs 180; 'The victims are often minors and the perpetrators are mostly teenagers'.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" }, { "locator": "Watchdog ~6,500 requests Jan-Jul (4x); 178 suspects booked, 74% aged 10-19; >half of erased deepfakes involved minors.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s4" } ], "assertion": "Police recorded 297 deepfake cases in January-July 2024 against 180 in all of 2023; the watchdog received nearly 6,500 takedown requests in the first seven months of 2024 (four times the prior year); of 178 suspects booked, 74% were aged 10-19; more than half of erased deepfakes involved minors; victims were often minors and perpetrators mostly teenagers.", "causal_attribution": "Both outlets relay the same police and watchdog accounts; traced to one official origin, so the figures are reported rather than corroborated. Figures count cases, requests and suspects, not harmed people." }, { "id": "c3", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "'more than 900 students, teachers and staff' (education ministry); 'of 964 deepfake-related sex crime cases reported from January to October last year, police made 23 arrests' (Seoul police statement).", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s6" } ], "assertion": "The education ministry counted more than 900 students, teachers and staff victimized between January and early November 2024; a Seoul police statement said that of 964 deepfake-related sex crime cases reported January-October 2024, 23 arrests were made.", "causal_attribution": "Single chain (CNN) relaying official figures; the education-ministry count is the record's person-count lower bound." }, { "id": "c4", "status": "corroborated", "evidence": [ { "locator": "Reuters wire via CNN, 26 Sep 2024: possession/viewing criminalized.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s5" }, { "locator": "CNN 25 Apr 2025: Sep 2024 law — possession/viewing up to 3 years or 30M won; creation maximum raised 5 to 7 years.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s6" } ], "assertion": "On 26 September 2024 the National Assembly criminalized possessing or viewing sexually explicit deepfakes (up to 3 years' prison or a 30 million won fine); the maximum sentence for creating deepfake pornography was raised from 5 to 7 years.", "causal_attribution": "The statute is a public record carried by two chains (Reuters wire; CNN original). The historical claim of an October 2024 amendment removing the distribution-intent requirement was not re-verified and is recorded as an unknown." }, { "id": "c5", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "'Military IDs turned into deepfake porn': servicewomen called 'military supplies'; at least 30 victims; channel active since 8 Aug with ~850 audience.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s3" } ], "assertion": "A separate Telegram room degraded servicewomen with deepfakes made from military-intranet ID photos, implying insider involvement, with at least 30 victims across the Army, Navy and Air Force and an audience of about 850 since 8 August 2024.", "causal_attribution": "Single chain (Hankyoreh original reporting)." }, { "id": "c6", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "Heejin passages (pseudonymous victim account).", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" }, { "locator": "Ruma passages (pseudonymous victim account).", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s6" } ], "assertion": "Individual victims described severe harm: a pseudonymous school victim 'Heejin' spoke to the BBC, and 'Ruma', targeted in 2021 at age 27, spoke to CNN.", "causal_attribution": "Pseudonymous first-person accounts carried by two outlets; the historical record's 'broke my whole belief system' quotation was not re-found in inspected sources and is dropped from the claims." }, { "id": "c7", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "Korea Herald 16 Nov 2025 relaying the National Office of Investigation figures.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s7" } ], "assertion": "By November 2025 the National Office of Investigation reported 3,557 people apprehended for cybersexual violence over the preceding year, with deepfake crimes the largest category (1,553 cases) and about 62% of suspects teenagers.", "causal_attribution": "Single chain relaying official figures; apprehension figures count suspects, not victims." } ], "effects": [ { "label": "mass AI-generated sexual deepfakes of identified women and girls distributed in Telegram rooms", "claim_id": "c1a", "direction": "negative" } ], "sources": [ { "id": "s1", "url": "https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpdlpj9zn9go", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-15 (3 Sep 2024; Jean Mackenzie, Seoul). Original reporting: victim 'Heejin', room structure, the 2,000-member school group, the 500+ activist-compiled school list.", "independence_group": "bbc" }, { "id": "s2", "url": "https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cg4yerrg451o", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-15 (28 Aug 2024). Yoon cabinet order; police figures attributed.", "independence_group": "bbc" }, { "id": "s3", "url": "https://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/1155588.html", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-15 (27 Aug 2024). Hankyoreh's own exposure of the military room.", "independence_group": "hankyoreh" }, { "id": "s4", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2024/09/06/nx-s1-5101891/south-korea-deepfake", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-15 (6 Sep 2024). Watchdog and police figures attributed.", "independence_group": "npr" }, { "id": "s5", "url": "https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/26/asia/south-korea-deepfake-bill-passed-intl-hnk", "kind": "wire_report", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-15 (26 Sep 2024); bylined Reuters.", "independence_group": "reuters" }, { "id": "s6", "url": "https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/25/asia/south-korea-deepfake-crimes-intl-hnk-dst", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-15 (25 Apr 2025). CNN original: victim 'Ruma', education-ministry figure, Seoul police statement.", "independence_group": "cnn" }, { "id": "s7", "url": "https://www.koreaherald.com/article/10616925", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-15 (16 Nov 2025; the historical date 2025-11-01 was wrong). National Office of Investigation figures.", "independence_group": "korea-herald" }, { "id": "s8", "url": "https://www.hani.co.kr/arti/society/society_general/1155800.html", "kind": "news_report", "access": "unavailable", "language": null, "translation_note": "HTTP 404 on 2026-09-15. Ko Narin's original Korean investigation (~26 Aug 2024); retained as the historical reference. BBC's 3 Sep 2024 report confirms the scoop; the body was not inspected in this review and its language is not re-asserted.", "independence_group": "hankyoreh" } ], "version": 1, "ai_roles": [ "others_use" ], "contexts": [ "education", "justice" ], "unknowns": [ "Not re-verified in inspected sources and therefore not claims of this record: the 220,000-member channel figure; 781 victims with 37% minors; Women's Human Rights Institute of Korea 332,341 supported cases; the October 2024 amendment removing the distribution-intent requirement; the Seoul National University graduates' 9-year and 3.5-year sentences; the teachers' union 200-school estimate; the 'broke my whole belief system' victim quotation.", "The specific AI tools used are not identified in the inspected reporting.", "Ko Narin's original Korean article (hani.co.kr 1155800) is HTTP 404; its contents are known only through the BBC's confirmation and the historical record.", "The ScienceDirect study cited by the historical record answered 403 and was not inspected.", "Cross-group overlap between police case counts, the education-ministry victim count and watchdog requests is unresolved." ], "geography": { "basis": "Events, victims and the responding institutions are all in South Korea (all chains). No court proceeding is verified in this review, so court_countries is [].", "court_countries": [], "event_countries": [ "KR" ], "affected_person_countries": [ "KR" ] }, "publication": { "basis": "Restored under the 2026-09-15 charter as a harmful-artifact crisis affecting identified women and girls, predominantly minors. The person count is the education ministry's documented lower bound; case, request and membership figures are recorded but never used as person counts. Unverifiable historical claims are preserved as unknowns rather than deleted silently. No death; the death-verification rule is not engaged. Pseudonymous victims remain pseudonymous. In a 2026-09-15 second pass the original compound first claim was split: the corroborated exposure and room organization stand as c1a, and the BBC-only structure details (entry terms, 2,000-member group) stand as reported c1b. person_relations recorded in the same pass.", "reviewed_on": "2026-09-15" }, "ai_involvement": { "basis": "Every inspected chain describes AI deepfake tools as the generation mechanism and Telegram as the distribution channel; police and watchdog figures classify the cases as deepfake sex crimes. The specific tools are not individually identified beyond 'AI deepfake/nudify tools'.", "status": "supported" }, "person_relations": [ "depicted_or_impersonated" ] }, "name": "South Korea Telegram AI Deepfake Sexual Abuse Crisis", "summary": "In late August 2024, journalist Ko Narin of The Hankyoreh exposed networks of Telegram rooms in South Korea where AI tools were used to turn ordinary photos of women and girls — middle and high school pupils, university students, teachers and servicewomen — into sexual deepfakes, shared with their identities in school- and university-specific 'humiliation rooms'. Police figures showed 297 deepfake cases in January-July 2024 (vs 180 in all of 2023); the education ministry counted more than 900 victimized students, teachers and staff; President Yoon ordered a crackdown; and on 26 September 2024 the National Assembly criminalized possessing or viewing sexually explicit deepfakes. Victims were often minors and perpetrators mostly teenagers.", "incidentDate": "2024-08-01", "incidentEndDate": "2024-09-26", "incidentKind": "bounded_series", "incidentDatePrecision": "range", "exposurePattern": "repeated_interactions", "reportedDate": "2024-08-26", "aiSystem": "AI deepfake generation tools (various)", "aiCompany": "Multiple (various free AI 'undressing' tools)", "severity": "critical", "verificationStatus": "credible", "harmCategories": [ "minor_exploitation", "third_party_harm_facilitation", "psychological_manipulation" ], "harmOutcomes": [ "psychological_distress", "reputational_harm" ], "harmOutcomeSummary": "Mass non-consensual AI sexual imagery of schoolgirls, students, teachers and servicewomen, distributed with their identities in Telegram rooms; pseudonymous victims describe severe distress, and police recorded hundreds of cases dominated by minor victims and teenage perpetrators.", "frameworkFacets": [], "causationStatus": "supported", "participantUsersAffectedMin": 0, "otherPeopleHarmedMin": 900, "affectedCountStatus": "documented_minimum", "affectedCountEvidence": "Lower bound: the South Korean education ministry's count of 'more than 900 students, teachers and staff' victimized (January-early November 2024), carried by CNN's 25 April 2025 report. This counts people reported as victims to the education authorities. Police figures (297 cases; 964 cases) count cases, not people, and are not used as person counts; the watchdog's ~6,500 figures count takedown requests, not people; the 500+ schools figure is an activist-compiled list of targets, not a victim count; channel membership numbers are not counted. Cross-group overlap is unresolved.", "victimAgeRange": "minor", "jurisdiction": "KR", "platformType": "other", "outcomeType": "criminal_charges", "outcomeStatus": "ongoing", "primarySourceUrl": "https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpdlpj9zn9go", "primarySourceLabel": "BBC News, Jean Mackenzie (3 Sep 2024) — 'Inside the deepfake porn crisis engulfing Korean schools' (replaces the dead Hankyoreh original)", "firstPublishedAt": "2026-01-29T09:52:18.956616+00:00", "scopeVersion": "facts-v3", "tags": [ "deepfakes", "minor", "south-korea", "telegram", "sexual-images", "school", "criminal-charges", "legislation", "mass-scale", "non-western" ] } ] }