Top Stories 24/09/09 Campaign seeks to fight AI-generated porn in Korean schools

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Campaign seeks to fight AI-generated porn in Korean schools

'Delete the Children' program aims to protect children’s images online from misuse such as 'deepfakes'

Activists hold eye masks during a protest against deepfake porn in Seoul on Aug. 30. (Photo: AFP)

By UCA News reporter

Published: September 10, 2024 09:18 AM GMT

Updated: September 10, 2024 09:49 AM GMT

Global child rights group Save the Children has launched the second phase of its “Delete the Children” campaign in South Korea for the protection of children’s images online amid an AI-generated pornography crisis at schools.

Sexually explicit deepfake content - AI-generated images or videos that superimpose the image of a real person’s face over a fake body or onto real pornographic material - sometimes uses images of children taken without their consent from online sources and has become the subject of public outrage in South Korea, the group said in a statement on Sept. 9.

Save the Children cited its national children’s survey that found 85.5 percent of children aged 10 to 18 support guaranteeing children’s right to delete their personal information online, including their images.

It showed that 98 percent of children would like to delete personal information that has been posted by others without their consent.

The survey was carried out among 1,000 children between Dec. 5-7 last year. The results were published this February.

In the same survey, while 90 percent of children said they agreed to personal data collection to use Internet services, more than half, or 53.1 percent, were unaware their personal data was being provided to external companies for marketing purposes.

Korea’s Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) launched a pilot “eraser service” last year which allows the commission to ask website managers to remove or hide posts that contain personal information of minors.

However, the request to remove or hide posts containing personal information can only be made for posts containing personal information that was originally shared by the individuals themselves.

Through the campaign, Save the Children is asking that this service be extended so that children and their parents can ask to have any of their online information, including digitally altered images, removed so that children have the right to determine how their personal information is used.

Delete the Children also aims to raise social awareness around the protection of children's personal information online and to urge the government to ensure that children’s personally identifiable information, including images and other data, can be removed from online platforms.

Earlier this month, South Korea’s national police agency said it was investigating the encrypted messaging app Telegram, which it suspects is being used to distribute AI-generated sexually explicit images, including digitally altered images of teenagers shared across several schools and universities in the country.

“When videos or images are posted without a child’s consent it can spread like wildfire and the suffering that these children endure carries over long into adulthood. We need to do better in order to support our children’s right to digital self-determination, said Mijeong Kang, director of the advocacy department at Save the Children Korea.  

The digital footprints left by the exploitation of children for criminal purposes can have devastating, long-lasting effects, she said.

“We must act urgently to improve our policies, ensuring the rapid removal of these harmful digital records. This swift action is crucial not only for the immediate protection of vulnerable children but also to safeguard their future well-being and right to digital autonomy," she added. 

“AI-generated ‘deepfake’ images and videos can leave a profound and incredibly negative psychological impact on children and we know that cyberbullying, in the worst-case scenarios, can lead to self-harm or even suicide, said Steve Miller, global director of child protection Save the Children.

“We urgently need governments, including South Korea, to create a safe digital environment for children and to give children the power to determine how, when and where their personal data is used online,” Miller added.