SEOUL, South Korea. South Korea announced on Wednesday a package of measures to curb an increase in deepfake porn, saying it will toughen punishment for violators, expand the use of undercover agents and impose greater regulations on social media platforms.

Concerns about the non-consensual Explicit video content that was digitally manipulated. The situation deepened in South Korea after unconfirmed lists of schools with victims spread online in August. Terrified, many girls and women deleted photos and videos from Instagram, Facebook and other social media accounts, while others held demonstrations calling for stronger action against deepfake pornography.

President Yoon Suk Yeol quickly confirmed the rapid spread of explicit deepfake content and ordered officials to “nip these digital sexual crimes in the bud.” The police are now on a seven-month special offensive that will continue until March 2025.

A task force said in a statement that the government has been working with lawmakers to review laws to increase punishment for perpetrators involved in crimes related to deepfake pornography.

He cited a recently amended law that for the first time makes the acts of viewing or possessing deepfake pornography illegal and punishable by up to three years in prison. The maximum penalty for those who produce or distribute deepfake pornographic content was increased from five to seven years in prison.

So far, police have arrested 506 suspects this year, 411 of them aged between 10 and 19.

The task force said it will push for undercover online investigations, even in cases where the victims are adults. Currently, the law authorizes such methods only when the victims are minors. The government also plans another review that would allow authorities to confiscate profits made through deepfake pornography businesses.

The task force said it will push to impose a fine on social media platforms more aggressively when they fail to prevent the spread of deepfakes and other illegal content. He said South Korea will plan to increase monitors on social media platforms to 26, from the current 12.

The task force will also expand mandatory digital sex crimes educational programs in schools and produce related public awareness videos featuring celebrities popular with teens and 20-year-olds.

Most of the alleged perpetrators of deepfake pornography cases in South Korea are teenagers. Observers say that children address friends, relatives and acquaintances (mostly minors) as a joke, out of curiosity or misogyny.

The problem of deepfake pornography in South Korea has raised serious questions about school curricula, but has also threatened to worsen an already problematic divide between men and women.

According to experts, the prevalence of deepfake pornography in the country has been attributed to a combination of factors, including heavy smartphone use, lack of comprehensive sex and human rights education in schools, inadequate network regulations social services for minors and also misogyny and social violence. Norms that sexually objectify women.