K-pop powerhouse HYBE has confirmed that police in South Korea have arrested eight individuals suspected of involvement in the creation and distribution of deepfake videos featuring the likeness of artists managed by the music business.
Commenting on the arrests, HYBE CEO Jason Jaesang Lee said that the company “will respond firmly to crimes that infringe on our artists’ rights and reputations, based on a zero-tolerance and no-settlement policy”, adding, “We will continue to monitor and take legal action to eradicate such serious crimes”.
K-pop companies are particularly proactive in policing defamatory, infringing and other harmful content targeting or featuring their artists, with HYBE’s Ador agency posting an update just this week about its work combating online content that it believes is harmful to NewJeans, despite its ongoing legal battle with the group.
The arrests over the deepfake content are the result of an existing alliance between HYBE and the Northern Gyeonggi Provincial Police Agency, via which the K-pop company can pass information to the authorities whenever it believes the creation and distribution of harmful content constitutes a criminal offence.
According to The Korea Herald, the HYBE-related arrests are part of wider action by the police agency targeting a total of 23 individuals “involved in the creation and distribution of sexually explicit fake videos via Telegram chatrooms”. Thirteen people are reportedly in custody, including six connected to the HYBE deepfakes.
South Korea has strong laws against the creation and distribution, and even consumption, of sexually explicit deepfakes, where AI-technology is used to generate pornographic content featuring the likeness of specific individuals without their consent.
Following changes to the law last year, consuming such content can result in a three year jail term, while those found guilty of creating it can face a seven year prison sentence.
HYBE has a portal where fans can report all kinds of unofficial content relating to its artists, including content that infringes copyright and trademarks, or which is possibly defamatory, or which violates an artist’s privacy or could constitute harassment.
When the company relaunched that portal last year it noted, “we have created a separate category to expedite and bolster our response to illegal pornography including AI-generated ‘deepfake’ sexual exploitation content, which has become a serious social problem in recent years”.
“We actively monitor domestic and international platforms, including Telegram, X and Discord, for deepfake-related content”, it added. “Based on the findings from our internal monitoring and the reports that we have received, we are working closely with investigative authorities to coordinate a joint response”.
HYBE confirmed earlier this week that its work to combat defamatory, infringing and harmful content in relation to Ador signed NewJeans is not only ongoing but has recently been ramped up, even though the group last year announced they’d quit the agency and are now involved in a legal battle with the company.
The update on how Ador continues to police unofficial NewJeans content came as the group began the process of appealing the recent injunction prohibiting them from pursuing any new activities as a group without Ador’s involvement.
According to the update, Ador has “employed additional dedicated staff” because of the “rapid increase in the quantity and severity of malicious posts” targeting the girl group. It added, “we are taking criminal action against malicious posts that are repetitive or severe enough to reach a criminal level”.
And that includes deepfakes of course. “We are responding rigorously to deepfake crimes, which have become a significant social issue”, the update said. “We are closely cooperating with law enforcement regarding the production and dissemination of false videos targeting the artist”.
It then revealed that one person suspected of creating such content “has been transferred to the prosecution while in custody”, adding, “Ador will not engage in any settlements or leniency in legal actions related to the protection of the artist's rights, and we are actively identifying additional measures that can be taken at the company level to ensure that the perpetrator receives appropriate punishment”.