South Korean police launch preliminary probe into Telegram: summary

What we know

• South Korean police have initiated an investigation into Telegram over allegations of complicity and aiding in online sexual crimes involving deepfake technology.
• Woo Jong-soo, the head of the National Office of Investigation, announced on Monday, September 2, that the police had initiated an unofficial and preliminary probe into Telegram.
• Woo acknowledged the recent arrest of Telegram co-founder and CEO Pavel Durov in France, stating that the police will work with French authorities and international organisations to use this arrest to gather evidence of Telegram's involvement in distributing Deepfake pornography.
• This marks the first time South Korean police have investigated Telegram, despite the app facing scrutiny during the 2019 "Nth Room" case, which involved reports of blackmail, trafficking, and the distribution of sexually exploitative videos.
• The Korean National Police Agency received 88 reports of deepfake pornography from August 26 to 29, a tenfold increase from the 297 cases reported from January to July. Among these, 24 suspects have been identified, thanks to victims' reports.
• The police plan to charge chatroom creators of deepfake bots with aiding and abetting the crime. They will also update guidance to expand undercover investigations to include Deepfake pornography of adults, as current rules limit such investigations to crimes involving underage victims.

What they said

Woo Jong-soo, the head of the National Office of Investigation, is quoted by The Korea Herald on Monday, September 2, to have said that the police investigation was based on “complicity, aiding and abetting crimes involving Deepfake pornography. Investigating Telegram is difficult, as they do not share account information and other forms of personal information with investigative officials or law enforcement agencies based in Korea and in other countries. However, it’s not true that because Telegram didn’t give us the material to investigate, we are unable to catch the actual perpetrators of the crimes. We (the Korean police have our own investigative techniques are are doing our best to investigate.”