Man jailed for deepfake porn seeks state compensation after acquittal

Citizens and members of women's rights groups participate in a protest against deepfake sex crimes in Jongno-gu, Seoul on Sept.6. (Yonhap)

A man whose conviction for making deepfake pornography of an acquaintance was overturned is now seeking state compensation for his legal fees, local media outlets reported Wednesday.

The former university student surnamed Lee recently requested the Seoul High Court to compensate him for his losses from the conviction. Although he did actually make the images, he was cleared by the Supreme Court in April 2024, partly because the relevant legislation was not in place at the time of his actions.

Lee was indicted in January 2019 for making the images in 2017. But the legal definition and punishments set out for deepfake crimes did not come into place until the revision of the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Sexual Crimes was not made until 2020.

As such, the prosecutors at the time indicted him for a violation of the Article 244 of the Criminal Act, which bans the manufacture, possession, and distribution of obscene goods. He was sentenced to eight months in prison.

But the nation's top court overturned the ruling by saying that said a computer file -- carrying the deepfake image -- cannot be considered obscene "goods." This is based on earlier Supreme Court rulings that stated that a computer file is not considered in the same category as obscene documents, physical pictures and other objects.

The defamation charge against Lee still stood, resulting in him being sentenced to eight months in prison, suspended for two years by the Seoul High Court in March. This ruling was finalized as neither the defendant or the prosecution challenged the verdict.

South Korean law does not usually apply recently enacted laws retroactively, meaning Lee cannot be punished for his 2017 actions based on the 2020 revision.

The Supreme Court's decision allowed him to seek compensation for financial and other losses he faced during the trials, based on the Article 28 of the Constitution that states he or she is entitled to do so after being acquitted.

While Lee could be reimbursed for his lawyer fees and other costs, it is unlikely he will be compensated for spending time in jail. A 2009 Constitutional Court ruling states that one's period of imprisonment prior to a ruling is considered to having served his or her sentence.

His time in prison does not exceed the finalized period of his suspended punishment -- eight months in prison.

But the ruling that cleared him of the deepfake sex crime sparked outrage and caused the victims of Lee's crimes to participate in a Sept. 6 protest in Seoul against such crimes.

"The perpetrator was ultimately cleared after years of trials. The technology keeps advancing, but the law stays in the past and cannot punish such crimes," one of the victims claimed in the protest, via proxy delivery of her speech.

By Yoon Min-sik(minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)