Deepfake Illegal Ads Run Rampant, Yet Crackdown Count Stands at Zero

〈Anchor〉

Illegal advertisements utilizing deepfake videos to mimic the faces, voices, and even gestures of celebrities are on the rise. These are fraudulent ads that almost anyone has likely seen at least once, yet government crackdown numbers reportedly stand at zero.

Reporter Kim Bo-mi has the details.

〈Reporter〉

[Three, four, five, boom! I got 2 million won!]

It looks like a well-known webtoon artist is streaming a game live, but in reality, it is an illegal deepfake gambling ad created using AI without the artist's consent.

Clicking the play game button leads to an online casino download screen.

These acts attempt to secure private gain by unauthorized use of a celebrity's name, face, and voice, which can be seen as illegal activities violating the right of publicity, also known as the right to commercialize personality characteristics.

While victims may file complaints or accusations under civil law for invasion of portrait rights or criminal law for defamation, the competent ministry, the Korean Intellectual Property Office, can also launch administrative investigations based on the Unfair Competition Prevention Act.

In fact, back in March, corrective orders were issued against four merchandise companies that unlawfully misappropriated the faces of idols.

It was the first administrative disposition in about four years since provisions protecting the right of publicity were newly established under the Unfair Competition Prevention Act in 2022, but crackdown cases involving deepfake videos still remain at zero.

This is because most infringing activities occur on online platforms, and administrative investigations alone face limitations if platforms refuse to provide the personal information of the posters.

Although there are special judicial police officers affiliated with the Korean Intellectual Property Office who are capable of conducting investigations, current laws only target acts of imitating famous products or businesses for profit, excluding actions related to the right of publicity.

[Heo Seong-mu / National Assembly Trade, Industry, Energy, SMEs and Startups Committee Member (Democratic Party of Korea): Are not the damages immense when one's face, voice, and signature are used without authorization? The special judicial police should be enabled to actively pursue investigations and punishments....]

Related bill amendments have been proposed in the National Assembly to mandate online platforms to cooperate with administrative investigations and to enable investigations by the special judicial police.

(Video reporting: Joo Yong-jin, Kim Yong-woo | Video editing: Yu Mi-ra | Design: Yang Gi-tae)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.