{"meta":{"exportedAt":"2026-10-23T08:15:09.592Z","formatVersion":2,"selection":{"q":"korea","system":"","harm":"","context":"","country":"","role":"","relation":"core","evidence":"","year":"","response":"minors","severity":"","verification":"","view":"incidents","sort":"added"},"totalIncidents":3,"coverage":{"cases":3,"countries":2,"languages":2,"unknownLocation":0,"locationPending":0,"unknownLanguage":0,"unknownDate":0,"lawsuits":0,"regulatory":0,"minors":3,"coreRelations":3,"contextualRelations":1,"mixedRelations":1,"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":"AI incidents","publisher":"NOPE","url":"https://nope.net/incidents","license":"CC BY 4.0"},"incidents":[{"id":"2024-incheon-teacher-deepfake-student-sentence","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"corroborated","evidence":[{"locator":"'인천지법 형사1단독(부장판사 이창경)은 16일 선고공판에서... A(10대)군에게 장기 2년, 단기 1년6개월의 징역형을 선고했다'; '40시간의 성폭력 치료 프로그램 이수와 아동·청소년 관련 기관 취업제한 5년'; '도주 우려 등을 이유로 A군을 법정구속했다'.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'장기 2년∼단기 1년6개월의 징역형을 선고하고 법정 구속했다'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'장기 2년, 단기 1년6개월의 징역형을 선고하고 법정 구속했다. 소년법상 만 19세 미만 미성년자에게는... 부정기형이 내려진다.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"On 16 September 2026 the Incheon District Court (Criminal Division 1, Judge 이창경) sentenced the teenage defendant to an indeterminate term of 2 years maximum / 1 year 6 months minimum for violating the Sexual Violence Punishment Act (editing and distributing false sexual images), ordered 40 hours of treatment and a five-year child-institution employment ban, and detained him in court.","causal_attribution":"Sentence reported identically by three outlets from the sentencing hearing."},{"id":"c2","status":"corroborated","evidence":[{"locator":"'2024년 8월 인공지능을 이용해 교사 5명의 얼굴을 나체사진에 합성한 뒤 사회관계망서비스(SNS)에 유포한 혐의'; '모두 11명의 허위영상물을 35차례 제작'; ''지인 능욕'을 테마로 한 텔레그램 대화방'.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'2024년 8월 인공지능(AI) 기술을 이용해 교사와 학생들의 얼굴을 나체 사진에 합성한 혐의'; '교사 5명과 함께 태권도 학원에 다닌 여중생 등 총 11명을 대상으로 35차례에 걸쳐 합성물을 제작, 텔레그램 '지인 능욕' 대화방 등에 유포'.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"},{"locator":"'2024년 인천의 한 중학교에 재학하던 중 딥페이크 기술을 이용해 교사 등 20여명의 얼굴을 나체 사진과 영상에 합성한 뒤 SNS에 유포한 혐의' (the prosecution's figure of about twenty).","relation":"context","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"In 2024, while a middle-school student in Incheon, he used AI deepfake technology to composite the faces of five teachers and six female middle- and high-school students from his taekwondo academy onto nude photographs and videos, 35 productions of 11 people in all, and distributed them in Telegram 'acquaintance humiliation' chat rooms.","causal_attribution":"Court findings as reported; the 11-in-35 count is Hankyoreh's and Munhwa's, and Newsis's 'about twenty' is the prosecution's charge description."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'자신의 담임교사에게 \"연락처와 사진이 지워졌다\"고 속여 사진을 받아내는 등 치밀하게 범행을 준비한 것으로 조사됐다'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"He obtained his homeroom teacher's photographs by telling her that his contacts and photos had been deleted.","causal_attribution":"Investigation finding reported by Munhwa Ilbo only."},{"id":"c4","status":"corroborated","evidence":[{"locator":"Judge: '반포한 교사 5명의 합성 사진과 영상물에는 피해자의 얼굴이 그대로 드러나 있고 실명, 나이, 학교, 교과목도 명시돼 있다'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"Judge: '피해 교사들의 얼굴뿐 아니라 실명, 학교, 휴대전화 번호까지 명시해 반포했다'; '피해자들이 장기간 심리치료를 받는 등 상당한 트라우마를 겪고 있는 점'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"},{"locator":"Judge: '피해교사들은 말할 수 없는 충격을 받고 트라우마를 겪고 있으며 A군의 엄벌 탄원하고 있다'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'합성물에는 피해 교사의 얼굴뿐 아니라 이름과 나이, 학교, 담당 교과목이 적혀 있었고 일부에는 휴대폰 번호와 인스타그램 아이디도 담겼다'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s5"}],"assertion":"The distributed images showed the teachers' faces together with their real names, ages, schools, subjects and phone numbers, and the court found the teachers are suffering considerable trauma and receiving long-term psychological treatment.","causal_attribution":"The judge's sentencing remarks as reported by three outlets; phone numbers appear in Munhwa's and Hankook Ilbo's accounts; Hankook Ilbo adds Instagram IDs on some."},{"id":"c5","status":"corroborated","evidence":[{"locator":"'A군은 지역교권보호위원회가 열리기 일주일 전 자퇴해 학교 차원의 별다른 징계 처분은 받지 않았다'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'피해 교사들은 올해 1월에야 피해 사실을 인지했으나, A 군은 교권보호위원회가 열리기 전 자퇴해 학교 측의 징계를 피했다'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"},{"locator":"'ㄱ군은 교권보호위원회가 열리기 전 자퇴해 징계 처분을 받지 않았다'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"He withdrew from school a week before the regional teachers'-rights protection committee met and received no school discipline; the teachers learned of the images only in January 2026.","causal_attribution":"The withdrawal is reported by all three; the January 2026 discovery by Munhwa only."},{"id":"c6","status":"corroborated","evidence":[{"locator":"'검찰이 구형한 부정기형 장기 3년6개월∼단기 2년은... 그러나 이날 선고는 검찰 구형에도 미치지 못했다'; the superintendent's pledge.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'인천교사노동조합은 입장문을 내고... 이번 선고에 깊은 유감을 표한다'; the superintendent: '법적·심리 치료 지원과 함께... 예방교육도 강화하겠다'.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The Incheon Teachers' Union expressed regret that the sentence fell below the prosecution's request of 3 years 6 months to 2 years; the superintendent of education attended and pledged legal and psychological support and prevention education.","causal_attribution":"Statements reported by two outlets."},{"id":"c7","status":"corroborated","evidence":[{"locator":"'22일 인천교사노조에 따르면 교사 A씨 등 2명은 최근 학생 졸업사진 촬영과정에서 학교로부터 함께하자는 요구를 받았다.'; 'A씨 등은 전근 사유를 밝히지 않아 지금 학교는 피해사실을 모르는 것으로 전해졌다. 사정을 밝히지 못한 A씨 등은 결국 사진을 촬영했다.'; 'B군은 A씨 등 교사·학생 11명의 사진으로 성착취물을 제작·유포했으며 16일 장기 2년~단기 1년6개월의 징역을 선고받았다.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"},{"locator":"'딥페이크 성범죄 피해 교사 2명이 옮긴 고등학교에서'; '피해 사실을 밝히지 않으면 촬영에 응해야 하고, 거부하려면 피해 사실을 설명해야 하는 분위기 속에서 결국 사진을 찍을 수밖에 없었다고 호소했다'; '이들 교사 2명은 2024년 발생한 10대 A군의 딥페이크 성범죄 피해 교사 5명에 포함된 피해자들이다.'; '사진 촬영과 게재가 교직원의 자율적 선택에 따라 이뤄질 수 있도록 하는 절차를 마련하라'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s5"}],"assertion":"On 22 September 2026 the Incheon Teachers' Union said two of the five victim teachers in this case, who had transferred to other schools without disclosing the reason, were recently asked by their new schools to join graduation-album photo sessions and took the photographs because refusing would have required explaining the victimisation; the union asked the education office to make staff photo sessions a voluntary choice.","causal_attribution":"The union's statement of 22 September as reported by two separately bylined outlets, each of which ties the two teachers to this sentenced case; Hankook Ilbo frames it as a tip received by the union. Not independently confirmed by the schools."},{"id":"c8","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'등의 말로 촬영 압박을 받았다는 제보가 접수됐다'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s5"},{"locator":"'거절 사유를 밝히지 않도록 강제하는 제도망을 갖추도록 요구했다'; '강요 분위기도 일지 않도록 대책을 강구하겠다'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"}],"assertion":"Hankook Ilbo reports the union as saying the pressure came with remarks such as 'let's leave memories' and 'don't spoil the mood' at the high schools the two teachers had moved to, while Kyeonggi Ilbo attributes such remarks to an atmosphere in some schools generally; Kyeonggi Ilbo also reports the union's demand that reasons for refusal need not be disclosed, and an education-office official's reply that the office would devise measures to ensure thorough consent procedures and prevent a coercive atmosphere.","causal_attribution":"Union and education-office statements as reported by each outlet."}],"effects":[{"label":"teachers and students depicted in AI-composited sexual images distributed with their names, schools and phone numbers; long-term trauma treatment","claim_id":"c2","direction":"negative"},{"label":"two victim teachers pressed into graduation-album photographs at their new schools because refusing would have meant disclosing the deepfake victimisation (union account, 22 September 2026)","claim_id":"c7","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.newsis.com/view/NISX20260916_0003791674","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"ko","translation_note":"Read in Korean on 2026-09-16 (datePublished 2026-09-16T10:51+09:00; Incheon bureau reporter 이루비; '종합' consolidated report). Model reading; no human bilingual review.","independence_group":"newsis"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://www.hani.co.kr/arti/area/capital/1278039.html","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"ko","translation_note":"Read in Korean on 2026-09-16 (datePublished 2026-09-16T11:00+09:00). Model reading; no human bilingual review.","independence_group":"hani"},{"id":"s3","url":"https://www.munhwa.com/article/11617393","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"ko","translation_note":"Read in Korean on 2026-09-16 (datePublished 2026-09-16T10:51+09:00). Model reading; no human bilingual review.","independence_group":"munhwa"},{"id":"s4","url":"https://www.kyeonggi.com/article/20260922580361","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"ko","translation_note":"Read live in Korean on 2026-09-23 (Kyeonggi Ilbo, 박기웅, 22 September 2026 15:43; a Daum copy is identical): the Incheon teachers' union's account that two victim teachers were asked to join graduation-photo sessions after transferring. Model reading; no human bilingual review.","independence_group":"kyeonggi-ilbo"},{"id":"s5","url":"https://www.hankookilbo.com/news/article/A2026092210370000589","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"ko","translation_note":"Read live in Korean on 2026-09-23 (Hankook Ilbo, 이환직, 22 September 2026 14:04): the union's statement of the same day and its demands to the education office. Model reading; no human bilingual review.","independence_group":"hankook-ilbo"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["others_use"],"contexts":["education","privacy","justice"],"unknowns":["The AI tool used is not named; the written judgment was not inspected.","The number of people depicted differs between the prosecution's charge description (about twenty, per Newsis) and the court reporting (eleven); eleven is used as the documented minimum.","When the distribution began and ended within 2024 and whether the additional indicted conduct extended later are not stated; the record uses August 2024 with month precision and no end date.","Whether either side appeals, and the outcome of any separate proceedings against the Telegram room operators, are not reported.","Earlier coverage of the arrest or indictment was not inspected; the reported_date is the sentencing coverage.","Korean bodies were read by the model without human bilingual review.","Which schools pressed the two teachers is not reported; the education office said it would devise measures (Kyeonggi Ilbo), and whether graduation-album procedures changed is not reported."],"geography":{"basis":"Event: an Incheon middle school and a taekwondo academy in Incheon (Newsis: '인천의 한 중학교'); victims are Incheon teachers and students; court: Incheon District Court.","court_countries":["KR"],"event_countries":["KR"],"affected_person_countries":["KR"]},"publication":{"basis":"Published under the 2026-09-15 charter as a harmful-artifact case with a criminal judgment: a court found that AI deepfake images of five teachers and six students were made and distributed with identifying details, and described the victims' ongoing trauma. Three separately bylined Korean outlets were read. The defendant is a minor and unnamed in the sources and here; no victim is named; the superintendent, union chair and judge are public officials. Updated 2026-09-23 with the union's report that two victim teachers were pressed into graduation-album photographs at their new schools (Kyeonggi Ilbo, Hankook Ilbo); the two teachers are not named.","reviewed_on":"2026-09-23"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"Three outlets report the court's findings that the images were made with AI deepfake (image-compositing) technology and the conviction under the false-sexual-image provisions; the specific tool is not named. The Korean bodies were read by the model; no written judgment was inspected.","status":"supported"},"person_relations":["depicted_or_impersonated"]},"name":"Incheon, South Korea: teenager sentenced to up to two years for AI deepfake sexual images of five teachers and six students, distributed on Telegram with the victims' names and schools","summary":"On 16 September 2026 the Incheon District Court sentenced a teenage defendant to an indeterminate term of two years (maximum) to one year six months (minimum) under the Sexual Violence Punishment Act for making and distributing false sexual images, ordered a 40-hour treatment programme and a five-year ban on working with children, and took him into custody in court. As a middle-school student in Incheon in 2024 he had used AI deepfake technology to composite the faces of five teachers, including his homeroom teacher whom he tricked into sending photographs, and six female middle- and high-school students from his taekwondo academy onto nude images and videos, 35 productions in all, and distributed them in Telegram 'acquaintance humiliation' chat rooms with the victims' real names, ages, schools, subjects and, per two reports, phone numbers (Hankook Ilbo adds Instagram IDs on some). The teachers learned of the images only in January 2026; the court said they are receiving long-term psychological treatment. He had withdrawn from school a week before the teachers'-rights committee met, avoiding school discipline. The Incheon teachers' union called the sentence, below the prosecution's request, regrettable.","incidentDate":"2024-08-01","incidentKind":"bounded_series","incidentDatePrecision":"month","exposurePattern":"unknown","reportedDate":"2026-09-16","aiSystem":"AI deepfake image-compositing tools (not named in the inspected court reporting)","aiProduct":"Unidentified image tool","severity":"high","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["exploitation_or_abuse","psychological_distress","reputational_harm"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"Five teachers and six students had their faces composited by AI onto nude images and videos that were distributed on Telegram with their real names, ages, schools, subjects and phone numbers; the court found the teachers are suffering considerable trauma and receiving long-term psychological treatment.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"established","participantUsersAffectedMin":0,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":11,"affectedCountStatus":"documented_minimum","affectedCountEvidence":"Hankyoreh and Munhwa Ilbo both report 11 people (five teachers and six students) in 35 composites, as found by the court; Newsis reports the prosecution's charge sheet as 'about twenty', which is not used as a count. Eleven is the documented minimum.","victimAgeRange":"minor","jurisdiction":"KR","platformType":"other","outcomeType":"criminal_charges","outcomeStatus":"ongoing","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.newsis.com/view/NISX20260916_0003791674","primarySourceLabel":"뉴시스 (Newsis), 16 September 2026, Incheon bureau: sentencing report with the judge's reasons, the superintendent's and the union's statements","firstPublishedAt":"2026-09-16T03:16:35.128819+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-09-30T01:16:52.00163+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["deepfake","south-korea","incheon","teachers","minors","telegram","criminal-sentence","depicted-or-impersonated"]},{"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)","aiProduct":"Unidentified image tool","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","updatedAt":"2026-09-30T01:16:53.809496+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["deepfakes","minor","south-korea","telegram","sexual-images","school","criminal-charges","legislation","mass-scale","non-western"]},{"id":"2017-simsimi-ireland-cyberbullying","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"corroborated","evidence":[{"locator":"'Several schools have sent letters or text messages to parents in recent days asking them to discuss use of the SimSimi app with their children.'; 'SimSimi is the most downloaded app in Ireland on Apple's iTunes charts and the second most-downloaded app on the Google Play store.'; 'One Dublin secondary school told parents this weekend that the app allowed individuals to be targeted easily.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'Where schools were aware of this use by some pupils, they alerted parents of potential dangers. General alerts were also issued by many teachers and schools through social media.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"},{"locator":"'said it was being downloaded \"in huge numbers\" across Ireland last week.'; 'we began to put out warnings through the media to parents and to schools'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s5"}],"assertion":"In late March 2017 schools in the Republic of Ireland sent letters or text messages asking parents to discuss the SimSimi app with their children, while the app topped Apple's download chart in Ireland.","causal_attribution":"School messages quoted by The Irish Times, a teachers' union statement to TheJournal.ie and a DCU anti-bullying centre director's BBC interview."},{"id":"c2","status":"corroborated","evidence":[{"locator":"'allows users to view anonymous, and often insulting, messages left about them by typing in their name.'; 'When a user sends a message on their phone, the app responds by scanning for related conversations in its database and responds by spitting out a relevant response.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'In practice, a small group could make a range of comments about a person and, without that person able to stop it, their name could be associated with negative and abusive content.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"},{"locator":"'IBTimes UK downloaded and tested the application. The exchange quickly turned weird.'; 'Time for another name. Typing Suzanne was met with: \"is gay\" and the name Emily brought up: \"Slut, who needs to improve her grades big time!!\"'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s7"},{"locator":"'It appears to be a computer generated chat room where you talk to a very abusive computer!'; 'The app is rated as 17+ but I am twice that age and was really shocked at some of the stuff that came back!'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s5"}],"assertion":"The app answers typed text, including a person's name, with replies other users have taught it, so that a name can return insulting messages; journalists and police who tested it received abusive replies.","causal_attribution":"The Irish Times's description of the mechanism, IBTimes UK's own test and the PSNI Down Facebook post quoted by the BBC."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'One parent who said that she had seen \"vile comments\" about her daughter on the app told TheJournal.ie that the company had said it would take 15 days to deal with her request but offered three alternative methods whereby words could be deleted from the system if they had become associated with vile language.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"},{"locator":"'We did some searches for our kids names and there were some vile, vile comments on the names for each of our respective children'; 'went into her phone to see if she’d ever downloaded the app on the app store and luckily she hadn’t. It was a really stressful situation.'; 'The mother was told she’d have to wait 15 days for action to be taken when she complained about this to SimSimi.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"}],"assertion":"A parent told TheJournal.ie that she and other parents searched their children's names on the app and found vile comments on each, that her daughter did not know of the comments; she said her daughter had not downloaded the app, that the company said it would take 15 days to deal with her request while offering ways to delete words, and that it was a really stressful situation.","causal_attribution":"The parent's own account to TheJournal.ie, carried in two articles; the company's reply is as she described it."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'In primary school, students were getting messages when they put in their name and they couldn’t understand where that had come from'; 'students were being insulted about being too fat or too ugly and very personal things, things they might only know about each other.'; 'For one friend, at the beginning it was all fine and inside jokes, but within a couple of days every time he looked up his name, something mean was being said. It hurt him a lot and he became very down.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s5"}],"assertion":"A Dublin secondary teacher told the BBC that primary pupils typing in their names received messages insulting them about being too fat or too ugly and about personal things, and her 15-year-old son said that for one friend, within a couple of days, every time he looked up his name something mean was being said, which hurt him a lot and left him very down.","causal_attribution":"The teacher's and her son's accounts to the BBC; the son describes a friend's experience."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'When you say my name on SimSimi, ‘autism’ comes up . . . people are so unfunny and cruel when hiding behind a phone screen'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"A student wrote on social media that \"autism\" comes up when their name is said on SimSimi.","causal_attribution":"A student's social media post quoted by The Irish Times."},{"id":"c6","status":"corroborated","evidence":[{"locator":"'any message sent to it is now responded to with the message: “I do not talk in Ireland for a while”.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"},{"locator":"'No matter what you asked it from Wednesday onwards, however, you got the same response: “I do not talk in Ireland for a while”.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"},{"locator":"'This afternoon, users were greeted with a message stating: \"I do not talk in Ireland for a while.\"'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'has been suspended in the Republic of Ireland, but children in Northern Ireland can still download it.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s5"},{"locator":"'was restricted in the Republic of Ireland (RoI) last week (Wednesday 29 March)'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s7"}],"assertion":"From Wednesday 29 March 2017 the app answered users in Ireland with \"I do not talk in Ireland for a while\", while it remained available in Northern Ireland.","causal_attribution":"TheJournal.ie's and The Irish Times's own observations of the app's reply, the BBC's report of the suspension, and IBTimes UK's report of the date; the date rests on TheJournal.ie's 'from Wednesday onwards' (29 March 2017), a Webwise tweet of 29 March embedded by TheJournal.ie and IBTimes UK's 'Wednesday 29 March'."},{"id":"c7","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'On its Facebook page, PSNI Down said it was unusual for police to highlight apps, but the SimSimi app gave them \"cause for concern\".'; 'We have reported it to the App Store and will include it in our Internet Safety talks'; 'It has asked parents to remove the app from their children'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s5"},{"locator":"'On the PSNI Down Facebook page, a warning said the app was a \"cause for concern\".'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s7"}],"assertion":"The PSNI's County Down Facebook page posted that the app gave it cause for concern, describing abusive and explicit replies, and said it had reported the app to the App Store; a school in Northern Ireland asked parents to remove the app from their children's phones and another urged pupils to remove it.","causal_attribution":"A police Facebook post quoted by the BBC and IBTimes UK; no formal police action is reported."},{"id":"c8","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'\"I think they have a duty of care of suspend the service for all young people,\" says Liam Hackett of anti-bullying campaign Ditch the Label.'; 'We got 5,000 signatures on a petition'; 'ISMaker, the South Korean company behind the app, have not responded to requests for comment.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s6"},{"locator":"'The South Korean company that developed SimSimi did not respond to requests for comment on Sunday.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"Anti-bullying campaigners called for the service to be suspended for young people; a campaigner in Ireland said a petition had gathered 5,000 signatures; the developer, named as ISMaker, did not respond to requests for comment.","causal_attribution":"Campaigners' statements to BBC Newsbeat; the non-response is each outlet's own report."}],"effects":[{"label":"children's names returned insulting replies that other users had taught the app, and primary pupils received personal insults when they typed in their names","claim_id":"c4","direction":"negative"},{"label":"a pupil was hurt and became very down after finding something mean every time he looked up his name","claim_id":"c4","direction":"negative"},{"label":"a parent found vile comments attached to her daughter's name and was told her complaint would take 15 days to handle","claim_id":"c3","direction":"negative"},{"label":"a student found that an insult came up when their name was said on the app","claim_id":"c5","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.irishtimes.com/news/education/simsimi-app-linked-to-bullying-suspends-access-to-irish-users-1.3029753","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read on 2026-10-07 from the live page (HTTP 200), dated Thu 30 March 2017, by the paper's education editor.","independence_group":"irish-times"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://www.irishtimes.com/news/education/schools-warn-of-bullying-linked-to-simsimi-app-1.3025437","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read on 2026-10-07 from the live page (HTTP 200), dated Sun 26 March 2017; quotes school messages to parents and students' social media posts.","independence_group":"irish-times"},{"id":"s3","url":"https://www.thejournal.ie/simsimi-offline-ireland-3314458-Mar2017/","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read on 2026-10-07 from the live page (HTTP 200), dated 30 March 2017; includes a parent's account to TheJournal.ie and a CyberSafe Ireland interview given to Newstalk Breakfast.","independence_group":"thejournal"},{"id":"s4","url":"https://www.thejournal.ie/simsimi-explainer-3315369-Apr2017/","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read on 2026-10-07 from the live page (HTTP 200), dated 2 April 2017; expands the same parent's account and quotes a teachers' union spokesperson.","independence_group":"thejournal"},{"id":"s5","url":"https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-39453542","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read on 2026-10-07 from the live page (HTTP 200), dated 31 March 2017; BBC News Northern Ireland, with interviews of a Dublin teacher and her son, a DCU centre director and a Northern Ireland principal, and the PSNI Down Facebook post.","independence_group":"bbc"},{"id":"s6","url":"https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-39453778","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read on 2026-10-07 from the live page (HTTP 200), dated 31 March 2017; BBC Newsbeat, with campaigners' statements.","independence_group":"bbc"},{"id":"s7","url":"https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/what-simsimi-look-chatbot-application-accused-enabling-cyberbullying-1615112","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read on 2026-10-07 from the live page (HTTP 200), dated 3 April 2017; the reporter's own test of the app plus relays of the BBC and TheJournal.ie.","independence_group":"ibtimes"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["others_use","own_use"],"contexts":["education","relationships","everyday_life"],"unknowns":["Whether or when SimSimi restored access for users in Ireland, and whether it changed its moderation; the stored claim that the app was later restored with content moderation was not supported by any inspected source and has been removed.","Who taught the app the insults, and how many children were targeted; CyberSafe Ireland and the teachers' union describe use for bullying without a count.","Whether the student quoted by The Irish Times is the same person as either counted child.","Whether the pupil described to the BBC attended school in the Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland; the teacher interviewed teaches in Dublin.","Whether any formal police action followed the PSNI Down Facebook warning; the stored wording 'formal warnings' is not supported."],"geography":{"basis":"The Irish Times places the school warnings in the Republic of Ireland and quotes a Dublin school; the BBC's teacher interviewee teaches in Dublin and the parent spoke to an Irish outlet about Irish schools. The BBC also reports warnings by schools and police in Northern Ireland (GB), but no harmed person is described there, so GB is not recorded as an event or affected country. No court is involved.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":["IE"],"affected_person_countries":["IE"]},"publication":{"basis":"Published as a core case (communicated_with and made_claim_about). The Irish Times, TheJournal.ie, the BBC and IBTimes UK describe the SimSimi app returning insulting, user-taught replies when children's names were typed in, in Irish schools in March 2017; a parent's account and a teacher's account describe two children harmed, and the developer suspended Irish access on 29 March 2017. The insults themselves were taught by other users, which the record states. No child, parent, teacher or campaigner is named here.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-07"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The app's own output is the abuse. The Irish Times (26 and 30 March 2017) describes SimSimi as responding to a typed message by scanning related conversations in its database and returning a response, and as returning anonymous, often insulting, messages when a user types in a name. IBTimes UK's reporter typed ordinary first names and received abusive replies, and the PSNI's County Down page described the replies it received as abusive and explicit (BBC). A Dublin teacher told the BBC that primary pupils were getting insulting messages when they put in their names and that a pupil found something mean every time he looked up his name, which hurt him and left him very down; a parent told TheJournal.ie the app returned vile comments for her daughter's name. The insults were authored by other users who taught the app, and no source says the app composed novel abuse; the app's matching of a child's name to that taught content and its delivery to whoever typed the name is the described AI action connected to the harm.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["communicated_with","made_claim_about"]},"name":"Ireland, March 2017: SimSimi chatbot returned user-taught insults for schoolchildren's names; schools warned parents and the app suspended Irish access","summary":"In late March 2017 the SimSimi chatbot app, which answers typed text with replies other users have taught it, topped Irish download charts while schools in the Republic of Ireland sent letters and text messages warning parents that pupils' names were being linked to insulting replies (The Irish Times, 26 March 2017). A parent told TheJournal.ie that she and other parents had searched their children's names and found vile comments on each, and that the company said her request would take 15 days to handle. A Dublin secondary teacher told the BBC that primary pupils who typed in their names received personal insults, and that a friend of her 15-year-old son found something mean every time he looked up his name, which hurt him a lot and left him very down. Police in County Down posted a warning on Facebook. From 29 March 2017 the app answered users in Ireland with \"I do not talk in Ireland for a while\", while remaining available in Northern Ireland. The South Korean developer did not respond to the outlets' requests for comment, and no inspected source says whether access was later restored.","incidentDate":"2017-03-01","incidentKind":"bounded_series","incidentDatePrecision":"month","exposurePattern":"repeated_interactions","reportedDate":"2017-03-26","aiSystem":"SimSimi, an anonymous chatbot app developed in South Korea that answers typed text, including people's names, with replies other users have taught it","aiProduct":"SimSimi","aiCompany":"ISMaker","severity":"medium","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["psychological_distress","exploitation_or_abuse"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"Children whose names were typed into the app received insulting replies that other users had taught it. A parent told TheJournal.ie she found vile comments attached to her daughter's name, and a Dublin teacher told the BBC that a friend of her 15-year-old son was hurt and became very down after finding something mean every time he looked up his name. No clinical or physical outcome is reported.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"supported","participantUsersAffectedMin":1,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":1,"affectedCountStatus":"partial","affectedCountEvidence":"Participant user 1: a friend of a Dublin teacher's 15-year-old son, who looked up his own name on the app and found something mean each time, which the son said hurt him a lot and left him very down (BBC News, 31 March 2017). Other person 1: a parent's teenage daughter whose name returned vile comments; the parent said the daughter had not downloaded the app and did not know of the comments, so she is counted for the abuse attached to her name, not for distress (TheJournal.ie, 30 March and 2 April 2017). The two are distinct (a boy and a girl). A student who wrote that \"autism\" comes up when their name is said on the app (The Irish Times, 26 March 2017) may overlap with either and is not counted separately. Primary pupils who received insults (BBC) and the children the teachers' union and CyberSafe Ireland described are not counted. Partial: counted people plus further targeted children without a count.","victimAgeRange":"minor","jurisdiction":"IE","platformType":"chatbot","outcomeType":"internal_action","outcomeStatus":"resolved","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.irishtimes.com/news/education/simsimi-app-linked-to-bullying-suspends-access-to-irish-users-1.3029753","primarySourceLabel":"The Irish Times, 30 March 2017: SimSimi app linked to bullying suspends access to Irish users","firstPublishedAt":"2026-01-12T00:34:12.606519+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-07T03:29:54.147244+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["simsimi","cyberbullying","minor","ireland","schools","harassment","trainable-ai","historical","communicated-with"]}]}