South Korea's Regulator Received 17,378 Deepfake Sex Crime Videos in Eight Months

South Korea's state-run Korea Communications Standards Commission received 17,378 deepfake sex crime videos for review from January to August 2026, more than in all of 2025.

What Happened

The Korea Communications Standards Commission received 17,378 sex crime videos made with deepfake technology for review in the first eight months of 2026. Its total for 2025 was 15,808. The eight-month figure is a nearly 9.9 percent increase over that full-year total.^[1] The data was submitted to Rep. Lee Yeon-hee of the Democratic Party and reported on October 17, 2026.^[1][2]

The commission's yearly totals show the trend. It reviewed 1,913 videos in 2021, 3,574 in 2022 and 7,187 in 2023. The figure reached 23,109 in 2024, then fell to 15,808 in 2025.^[1]

Seoul Economic Daily reported a breakdown by platform. A category called "other," which includes overseas illegal and pornographic websites and peer-to-peer sites, accounted for 17,116 cases. X accounted for 138 and Telegram for 124.^[2]

Why It Matters

Lee said the figures show it is "essential to closely examine the current situation and response mechanisms." Lee also called for effective measures to prevent the spread of such content and to protect victims.^[1] Commission chairman Ko Kwang-heon spoke at a parliamentary audit on the 12th, according to Seoul Economic Daily. Ko said the agency would work to prevent the spread of deepfake sexual crime videos and strengthen the removal and blocking of such content on overseas platforms.^[2]

The 2026 count passed last year's total with four months still to go. Nearly all cases fell in the category covering overseas websites and peer-to-peer sites, not X or Telegram.^[2]

What to Do

If you are targeted. Do not delete anything first. Save the URLs, take screenshots and note the date and time you found the content. This record helps platforms and police act.

Report it. Use the reporting tools on the site or app where the content appears. Report it to the police. In South Korea, the Korea Communications Standards Commission is the regulator that reviews this content.

Get support. You do not have to handle this alone. Tell someone you trust, and seek out victim support services where you live.

For parents and schools. Talk with young people about how photos they share can be misused. Make sure they know who to tell, and that they will not be blamed.

Check before you share. If an image or video of someone looks suspicious, do not pass it on. A second pair of eyes can help you tell whether it is real or synthetic.

Verify What You See and Hear

Upload any suspicious image or video frame at witness.vision/scan. Witness checks whether it is real or synthetic. The Witness Chrome extension scans images directly on any webpage.

Scan now at witness.vision/scan

Related reading

• Ofcom Deadline: UK Platforms Must Detect Deepfake Intimate Images
• What to Do If Someone Made a Deepfake of You
• Deepfakes Are Now a Compliance Problem: What Changed in 2026