South Korean women are not safe from the second x-th room

All over social media, South Korean women are translating articles about deepfake porn chat rooms. No woman in South Korea is safe from falling victim to deepfake porn – not even acquaintances, minors, and female family members are spared.

Even female journalists covering the “second Nth Room” are being threatened with deepfake porn. You may be wondering, “Why are these vile men so brazen? What is the ‘second Nth Room’? Why are South Korean women starting to share their experiences online?”

The outcry from feminists in South Korea prompted me to take a deep look at Naver (South Korea’s Google). Disgust is not enough to describe how I feel about what I’ve seen about the deepfake problem plaguing the country. In fact, in 2023, South Korea is the world leader in the production of deepfake porn. The second installment of Nth Room is a reflection of this repulsive reality.

What is the second Nth space?

The term “second” Nth Room implies the existence of a first. In 2019, a network of Telegram chatrooms where women were coerced and sexually exploited was uncovered by journalists and South Korean police. Women and even middle school-aged girls were threatened to film and photograph themselves in sexually compromising situations. The perpetrators sold the material in the Nth Room group chats on Telegram. Although Moon Hyung-wook (alias: God God), the creator of the Nth Room, was caught, no significant laws against cybersexual exploitation have been passed.

This is why the second Nth Room now exists. Perpetrators can easily erase traces of their digital activities, making it difficult for authorities to hold them liable for the crime of spreading deepfake porn. Deepfake pornography is only punishable if shared in South Korea. Moreover, Telegram is not cooperating with the investigation.

The second Nth Room has over 200,000 active participants and consists of several chat rooms on Telegram. In this version of the Nth Room, perpetrators create deepfakes with pornography of women. These women are not strangers – not that this would be okay without personal relationships. What makes this case shocking is the fact that these women are often acquaintances, family members and partners of those creating the deepfakes. The intention of these chat rooms is clear: to humiliate the women whose images are circulated. Hence, these rooms are also called “humiliation rooms”.

Middle school girls are also becoming victims in these chatrooms. Juvenile offenders as young as 14 have been caught participating in this deepfake pornography distribution network. There are victims at prestigious South Korean universities such as Seoul National University, Korea University, and Yonsei University. The situation has become so bad that South Korean women are afraid to post selfies on their social media accounts.

Feminism is demonized in South Korea

In South Korea, feminism often faces backlash. Calling yourself a feminist – that is, advocating for gender equality – can lead to exclusion and bullying. It doesn’t matter whether female journalists report on the issue of sexual violence. Female journalists involved in covering the Burning Sun scandal faced backlash and threats from men for covering the case. In addition, women are often expected to take personal responsibility to prevent victims.

According to a report by CNA, anti-feminist male voters are expressing a desire to abolish the Ministry of Gender Equality. Moreover, conservative politicians like Lee Jun-seok claim that the deepfake problem in South Korea is merely “exaggerated.” Never mind that South Korea leads the world in the production of deepfake porn at 53%.

South Korean women fight back

For the reasons mentioned above, women in South Korea are shedding light on the issue by translating articles online and sharing them on social media platforms. They want the international community to be aware of the issue so that the government and police will be pressured to crack down on deepfake pornography crimes. On September 1, 2024, South Koreans will trend hashtags on Twitter online to call on the government to reveal the identities of the perpetrators involved.

These women are just asking for your attention. Share their fate on your social media accounts because most of them cannot do that without fear.