A state agency has received requests for the deletion of about 940,000 deepfake and other illegal images, but one-third of them still remain undeleted, gender ministry data showed Wednesday.

That raises calls for revising related regulations to ensure that companies must comply with such requests at a time when deepfake sex crimes are on a sharp rise and have sparked fears among women that anyone can fall victim.

According to the data submitted to Rep. Kim Nam-hee of the main opposition Democratic Party, the Advocacy Center for Online Sexual Abuse Victims under the gender ministry received requests for the deletion of 938,651 cases of illegal content.

Of them, however, 269,917 cases, or 28.8 percent, remain undeleted.

The number of such requests has also been on a steady rise from some 166,000 cases in 2021 to some 206,000 in 2022 and about 243,000 last year. Through June this year alone, a total of about 165,000 such requests have been received, but some 42,000 cases remain undeleted.

“Three out of 10
cases of illegal content were not erased, causing issues like their recirculating online,” said Rep. Kim, adding exceptional measures are necessary as the government’s measure to toughen self-regulation of platforms has proven insufficient.

Source: Yonhap News Agency