Online legal community faces backlash over deepfake sentence tips

Courtesy of Yonhap News

Amid concerns about deepfakes, and particularly those involving pornographic content created by superimposing female faces onto explicit images, in South Korea, an online legal community with 140,000 members is facing backlash for sharing advice on how to receive reduced sentences for deepfake-related charges.

A post was pinned as an announcement in an online community where members share experiences related to criminal cases, including sex crimes, on Wednesday. Titled “Fake Video Production and Distribution: Telegram Deepfake Operator Granted Probation,” it detailed a case involving the distribution of deepfake content.

The community is run by a law firm specializing in sex crime defense, where administrators and members discuss cases of acquittals or probation in sex crime trials, along with trial experiences and legal strategies. According to the post, the defendant created explicit content by superimposing obscene images onto photos of a pop star who was a minor at the time of the offense in 2022, then distributed these deepfakes on a Telegram channel he operated. In the trial that took place in 2023, the defendant was acquitted of violating the Juvenile Act, receiving a 10-month prison sentence and a 2-year suspension for editing and distributing fake videos.

The community’s administrators noted that “anyone familiar with digital sex crimes would understand that achieving probation in these types of cases is challenging,” and added that “despite several unfavorable circumstances, the outcome was positive.”

While criminal defendants have the right to legal representation and law firms are allowed to promote their services, critics argue that publicizing and promoting reduced sentences for sex offenders, particularly those involved in widely condemned offenses, could cross ethical boundaries.

A lawyer from a local firm expressed concern over the potential misuse of information about reduced sentences, warning of an “undesirable societal atmosphere” if such information is used to commit crimes or get sentences that do not reflect the severity of the offenses.