Man Who Produced And Sold Deepfakes Of aespa’s Karina And Winter Receives A Prison Sentence
SM Entertainment has announced its victory in bringing legal action against a man who produced and sold deepfakes of aespa’s Karina And Winter.
On June 18, the agency issued a statement to its official social media channels to announce the news. The man has been found guilty and sentenced to 2 years and 6 months in prison, he was also ordered to complete 80 hours of sexual violence education and is now prohibited from working in any child or youth related institutions fro 7 years.
SM has been taking legal action consistently against such netizens who produce deepfakes of their idols. Many idols are happy to hear the news.
Read SM’s statement below!
“We would like to inform you that the defendant involved in the case of producing and selling deepfake videos of our artists Karina and Winter for profit has been found guilty and sentenced to 2 years and 6 months in prison, ordered to complete 80 hours of a sexual violence treatment program, and prohibited from working at child and youth-related institutions for 7 years.”
“We are closely monitoring reports from fans as well as major domestic and international platforms (Theqoo, Instiz, X, DC Inside, Nate Pann, MLB Park, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, Ilbe Storage, Bobaedream, FM Korea, Naver, Daum, etc.). In particular, regarding deepfake-related cases, including the above case, meaningful results have continued as stated in our notice from the previous quarter.
In addition, we are continuously filing complaints with investigative authorities against those who create malicious posts and comments about our artists for violations of laws including the Sexual Violence Punishment Act, the Information and Communications Network Act, and the Framework Act on Telecommunications.
We have already secured a large amount of evidence and, with the assistance of platform operators and institutions, are identifying anonymous posters. We make it clear that we will respond firmly to the spreading of malicious rumors, false information, sexual harassment, mockery, and the creation and distribution of distorted content, without any leniency or settlements.
We will continue to do our utmost in every way to protect the rights and interests of our artists.”
Thank you.
