Korea's telecom regulator requests French assistance in Telegram probe over deepfakes

The Korea Communications Standards Commission asked for support for direct communication with Telegram from the authorities in France, where the app's CEO is detained.

Telegram app logo [REUTERS]

Korea's telecommunications regulator has requested the French government’s cooperation in investigating Telegram, whose CEO is currently detained in Paris, to respond to crimes related to deepfake porn chat rooms.

The country has been shaken after a series of discoveries of Telegram chat rooms where sexually exploitative photos and videos of real people created through deepfake technology were being shared. The latest discovery alleges that the chatrooms shared imagery of enrolled students, staff or family members connected to around 300 schools across the country.

The Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCSC) sent a letter requesting the French authorities’ support to communicate directly with Telegram and to establish a permanent collaborative partnership for future issues related to the messaging service, the agency said in a statement on Friday.

Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov was detained and put under formal investigation by Paris prosecutors over alleged offenses that include complicity in the organized criminal distribution of sexual images of minors.

The letter underscored the urgency of cooperation by outlining how the crimes, which have seen participation from over more than 220,000 people, have mainly affected underage victims, as well as the crimes’ repercussions on Korean society.

The measure is one of the agency’s first steps to securing a hotline with Telegram to combat deepfake porn crime, the KCSC said.

The agency had first announced Wednesday of its plans to create the transnational communication channel to delete videos on Telegram as well as to strengthen cooperation with other global and domestic social media and messenger platforms to combat illegal activity.

Police have launched an investigation into a Telegram chat room that created deepfake pornography with almost 270,000 participants. Similar channels have subsequently been found, including one that had over 400,000 users, while another room open to the public had around 20,000 members.

They have reported difficulties in finding the perpetrators, however, citing Telegram's overseas server as the reason.

Political parties and the public in the meantime have been pushing for stricter monitoring of online illegal activity, stricter punishment and regulations for community sites where users who claim to have been members of the Telegram chat rooms ask for legal advice to avoid prosecution.

The KSCS on Wednesday said it would increase personnel monitoring social media sites including Telegram from six to 12 people.

Update, Aug. 30: Added details about the Telegram chat rooms, response by the police and public.

BY KIM JU-YEON [kim.juyeon2@joongang.co.kr]