SEOUL: Messaging app Telegram removed some illegal pornographic material following a request by South Korean regulators, the Yonhap news agency reported on Sept 3, as the country grapples with a deepfake porn crisis.

A South Korean broadcaster revealed last month that university students were running an illegal Telegram chatroom, where they shared deepfake pornographic material featuring female classmates. Other chatrooms were subsequently discovered, sparking public outrage.

Police said on Monday they had initiated an investigation into the Dubai-based messaging company, accusing it of "abetting" the distribution of deepfake pornography, including AI-generated explicit images of teenagers.

Regulators had requested Telegram remove some of the offensive material, and the app has informed the Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCSC) that it had taken down 25 sexually exploitative pieces of content, Yonhap reported Sept 3.

"Telegram also apologised for miscommunication regarding the issue and shared an exclusive email address for future communication with the media watchdog," Yonhap reported, citing the KCSC.

Deepfake pornography involves digitally superimposing the faces of individuals onto explicit images or videos using artificial intelligence technology.

Perpetrators of the recent spate of deepfake crimes have reportedly used social media platforms such as Instagram to save or screen-capture photos of victims, which were then used to create porn.

This has fuelled public anger and prompted President Yoon Suk Yeol, a former prosecutor, to call on officials to "thoroughly investigate and address these digital sex crimes to eradicate them completely".

Activists say South Korea is suffering from an epidemic of digital sex crimes, including those involving spycams and revenge porn, with inadequate legislation to punish offenders.

Following the announcement of the police probe, Telegram told AFP on Monday that it "actively monitors harmful content on its platform, including illegal pornography".

"Moderators proactively monitor public parts of the platform, use AI tools and accept user reports in order to remove content that breaches Telegram's terms of service," it said.

AFP could not reach the KCSC for comment.

Telegram's founder and chief Pavel Durov was arrested last month in France and charged with several counts of failing to curb extremist and illegal content on the popular messaging app.

 - AFP