Rise in fake news as South Korean elections draw near

By Minkyung Shin, The Readable
Apr. 9, 2024 8:08PM GMT+9 Updated Apr. 11, 2024 6:38PM GMT+9

As election day draws near in South Korea, there has been a noticeable increase in the spread of fake news related to the elections.

The Korean National Police Agency (KNPA) has recently announced that, as of March 26, they have apprehended 895 individuals suspected of attempting to influence the upcoming elections. Notably, 436 of these suspects were found to be disseminating false information, representing 48.7% of the total number accused.

Furthermore, the Korean Prosecution Service (KPS) disclosed in a January press release that they have charged 113 election-related cases. These include incidents where false information was distributed to journalists through email.

On January 24, the National Election Commission announced an amendment to the Public Official Election Act aimed at curbing the dissemination of deepfake videos related to elections. According to the new legislation, the creation and distribution of deepfake content concerning election campaigns is specifically banned within the 90 days leading up to an election.

Additionally, from late January to April 2nd, the National Election Commission (NEC) detected 327 individuals for uploading deepfakes and violating election regulations. In response to the rising issue of fake news and deepfakes related to elections, South Korean tech giants Naver and KakaoTalk have launched dedicated pages featuring the NEC report, allowing users to report such instances.

On November 23 of last year, a fabricated video featuring South Korean President Yoon Seok-yeol circulated across social media platforms. This video misrepresented the context of the president’s remarks, leading to widespread misunderstanding. Social media platforms later took down the video.

A month after the incident, in December of last year, the police began a crackdown on election-related offenses. For the three months leading up to March 26, the focus of their investigations was on the spread of false information across social networking services.

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The cover image of this article was designed by Areum Hwang. This article was edited by Dain Oh and copyedited by Arthur Gregory Willers.

Minkyung Shin serves as a reporting intern for The Readable, where she has channeled her passion for cybersecurity news. Her journey began at Dankook University in Korea, where she pursued studies in Journalism and Software Convergence Contents. During her university studies, Shin led a team project that developed an Augmented Reality (AR) Face Tracking Service application and authored a paper titled ‘AR Face Tracking Based on Service Content’. In 2023, she expanded her experiences by interning at the Toronto-based non-profit organization, TCM, planning support programs for underprivileged children in the city. Through her diverse experiences, Shin has cultivated a broad perspective on cybersecurity. She is committed to delivering accurate and insightful cybersecurity news to readers worldwide.